Site Launcher: Field Operations Lead for Drone Launches

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Site Launcher to be the on-the-ground lead for bringing new charging locations and partner sites into service. You will translate launch plans into action, coordinating teams across infrastructure, permitting, flight operations, and community engagement to achieve readiness and first deliveries.

You will operate with autonomy, making sound decisions, and escalating when needed while reporting progress and risks.

Qualifications

• Typically 3–7 years of relevant site operations, deployment or logistics experience.
• Experience owning a project or workstream through completion with multiple teams.
• Strong judgment, autonomy, and decision-making within your scope.
• Ability to lead without formal authority and hold others accountable constructively.
• Clear written and verbal communication with concise status updates.
• Excellent organization and follow-through; able to adapt when plans change.
• Willingness to travel frequently to U.S. launch locations (around 50%).

Responsibilities

• Lead the launch on the ground as primary day-to-day coordinator for sites.
• Maintain site launch plans with milestones, owners, dependencies and deadlines.
• Align infrastructure, permitting, regulatory, flight ops, maintenance, and partners.
• Verify readiness firsthand and confirm checks and approvals before launch.
• Identify risks, drive mitigations, and escalate safety concerns when needed.
• Provide concise updates on readiness, blockers, and schedule impact.
• Ensure smooth handoff to ongoing operations and capture field learnings.

Skills

Field operations

Logistics

Project coordination

Autonomy

Communication

Leadership without authority

Attention to detail

Job description

Zipline is seeking a Site Launcher to be the on-the-ground lead for bringing new charging locations and partner sites into service. You will translate launch plans into action, coordinating teams across infrastructure, permitting, flight operations, and community engagement to achieve readiness and first deliveries.

You will operate with autonomy, making sound decisions, and escalating when needed while reporting progress and risks.