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Salary: USD 160,000 - 220,000 / annual
Zipline is the world's largest autonomous drone delivery service, operating on four continents and completing millions of deliveries of critical supplies including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. As Director of Industry Standards, you will own Zipline's comprehensive standards strategy at the intersection of engineering, aviation regulatory affairs, global policy, and intellectual property.
You will translate Zipline's operational experience and technical capabilities into credible positions within industry standards bodies, shape external consensus on how autonomous aircraft should be designed and operated, and provide internal leadership with clear strategic decisions that enable safe and scalable commercial deployment.
Key responsibilities include: setting and leading standards strategy across aviation, autonomy, and commercial UAS delivery; prioritizing participation in standards bodies, committees, and consortia (ASTM, RTCA, etc.); representing Zipline in external forums; converting safety practices and operational learnings into standards proposals and technical contributions; establishing governance for company positions and standards-related IP risk; translating standards and regulatory developments into roadmap and commercial decisions for Engineering, Aviation Regulatory, Legal, and Commercial teams; and briefing executive leadership on portfolio priorities, tradeoffs, and strategic risks.
You will influence cross-functional decisions without direct authority, build alignment with regulators, industry peers, certification organizations, and technical experts, and travel as needed for standards meetings, regulatory engagements, and operational site visits.
Required qualifications: 8+ years in aviation, standards development, regulatory affairs, autonomy, or aerospace; aviation expertise from aircraft manufacturers, component manufacturers, operators, aviation service providers, or government agencies; demonstrated leadership in consensus standards bodies and technical committees; working knowledge of standards development, adoption, and application to certification and commercial strategy; technical fluency to evaluate engineering positions; and ability to influence without direct authority.
