Strategic Operations Analyst

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Zipline in South San Francisco is seeking a Strategic Operations Analyst to tackle high-priority operational challenges across our global network. You will move between data analysis, software tools, and process design to deliver measurable impact.

You’ll own problems end-to-end, building solutions from discovery to measurement, while collaborating with leaders across Maintenance, Fulfillment, Flight Test, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain.

Qualifications

• Strong analytical skills with SQL to analyze large datasets.
• Experience using Python, R, or similar languages to automate analyses, build tools, or solve operational problems.
• Experience designing metrics, dashboards, and reporting systems that influence business decisions.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to structure ambiguous problems and independently drive them to completion.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with ability to translate technical findings into clear business recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across technical and operational teams.
• High ownership, strong organizational skills, and a bias toward action.
• Willingness to travel approximately 20%.

Responsibilities

• Partner with leaders across Strategic Operations/ Maintenance / Fulfillment / Flight Test / Manufacturing / Supply Chain / Commercial Ops to solve high-impact challenges.
• Build analytical models and metrics for fleet health, performance, cost, quality, and reliability.
• Design scalable operating mechanisms, processes, workflows, and documentation.

Skills

SQL

Python/R

Metrics & dashboards design

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Ownership & bias toward action

Communication

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree (Engineering, CS, Math, OR, Econ)

Tools

Mode

ThoughtSpot

Looker

Power BI

Job description

About Zipline

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products.

Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe.

We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds.

About The Role

The Strategic Operations team serves as the internal operating system for Zipline's global operations organization. We partner across Maintenance, Fulfillment, Flight Test, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Commercial Operations to solve complex operational problems, build scalable systems, and enable data-driven decision making.

As a Strategic Operations Analyst, you'll work on some of the highest-priority operational challenges at Zipline. One week you may be building executive metrics that shape fleet strategy; the next you could be standing in a maintenance hub conducting time studies, designing a new operational process, or building an internal software tool that saves hundreds of hours across the organization.

This is not a traditional analytics role. Success requires curiosity, technical depth, and the ability to move seamlessly between data analysis, software development, process design, and operational execution.

You’ll own ambiguous problems from end to end—understanding how work happens today, identifying opportunities for improvement, building solutions, and measuring their impact.

What You’ll Do

• Partner directly with leaders across Strategic Operations, Maintenance, Fulfillment, Flight Test, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Commercial Operations to solve high-impact operational challenges.
• Build analytical models and metrics that provide visibility into fleet health, operational performance, cost, quality, and reliability.
• Design scalable operating mechanisms including processes, workflows, documentation, and decision frameworks.
• Develop internal software tools, dashboards, and automations that eliminate manual work and improve operational efficiency.
• Design new methods for collecting operational data where none exists, including field observations, time studies, surveys, and instrumentation.
• Investigate complex operational problems by combining quantitative analysis with direct observation in production and commercial environments.
• Lead cross-functional projects from problem definition through implementation and measurement.
• Communicate findings and recommendations to executive leadership through clear visualizations, written narratives, and presentations.
• Travel up to 20% to commercial sites, manufacturing facilities, and flight test locations to understand operations firsthand and validate solutions.

What You’ll Bring

• Strong analytical skills with experience using SQL to analyze large datasets.
• Experience using Python, R, or similar languages to automate analyses, build tools, or solve operational problems.
• Experience designing metrics, dashboards, and reporting systems that influence business decisions.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to structure ambiguous problems and independently drive them to completion.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical findings into clear business recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across technical and operational teams.
• High ownership, strong organizational skills, and a bias toward action.
• Willingness to travel approximately 20%.

Preferred

• Experience building internal software applications, workflow automation tools, or operational systems.
• Experience with business intelligence platforms such as Mode, ThoughtSpot, Looker, or Power BI.
• Experience in logistics, manufacturing, aviation, robotics, supply chain, or another operationally intensive environment.
• Experience with experimentation, statistical analysis, forecasting, or optimization.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Operations Research, Economics, or a related quantitative field.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash range for this role is $130,000-$170,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies.

Please Note

We have received reports stating that certain individuals are reaching out to people under false pretenses, claiming to be Zipline employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives. They may seek to gain access to your personal information or to acquire money from you by offering fictitious employment opportunities or by claiming that they are contacting you on Zipline’s behalf. Genuine Zipline employees or representatives will never ask you for money or payment in exchange for employment opportunities or other related services. Any such offer of employment or any other service in exchange for fees that claims to be from us is deceitful and part of a fraud.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file. As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.