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Zipline is the world's largest autonomous drone delivery service, operating on four continents and completing millions of deliveries of blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. The company has flown over 140 million commercial autonomous miles and makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds.
As Metro Launch Manager, you will lead Zipline's expansion into new markets as a senior individual contributor. You own the strategy and execution to transform a priority metro into a successful delivery network, from site selection and partner integration to network development beyond launch. You will mobilize cross-functional teams, resolve critical blockers between market opportunity and customer launch, and carry plans through to stable operations. You will also build the metro-entry playbook that local leaders adapt and future launches build upon.
Key responsibilities include:
- Owning the multi-quarter metro roadmap and Launch Plan of Record, setting scope, milestones, dependencies, and confidence levels while keeping forecasts and commitments distinct and the company aligned.
- Designing the entry network with Network Planning and Real Estate teams: first-wave sites, coverage, connectivity, maintenance support, and expansion waves, preserving alternatives as conditions change.
- Leading metro viability assessments across Government Affairs, Community Engagement, Regulatory, Product, and Systems Engineering using field research, data, and practical models to resolve permitting, airspace, serviceability, and product-fit questions.
- Shaping go-to-market strategy with commercial leaders and restaurant, enterprise, and strategic partners, defining launch selection, customer coverage, and success measures.
- Driving the critical path across development, construction, hiring, fleet, maintenance, flight operations, and marketplace readiness, resolving tradeoffs and leading readiness reviews through go-live and operational handoff.
- Recommending which construction-ready sites activate through Launch Activation Reviews, keeping activation decisions separate from customer-launch clearance.
- Stewarding the pipeline-based projected network until Network Planning is fully staffed, showing launch possibilities without implying commitment.
- Owning and evolving the metro launch playbook, establishing entry principles, readiness gates, and using early results to improve subsequent waves and future metros.
Requirements:
- 6+ years of experience in market expansion, launch, operations, logistics, marketplaces, or complex cross-functional programs.
- Proven track record taking ambiguous market or operating challenges from strategy through execution with meaningful ownership of outcomes.
- Leadership ability to align senior stakeholders, make sound tradeoffs, and drive decisions and action without formal authority.
- Commercial and product judgment backed by hands-on analysis; spreadsheet fluency required; SQL, geospatial analysis, or scripting a plus.
- Clear communication and builder's instinct: you create playbooks and operating mechanisms others can use, not processes dependent on you.
- Willingness to travel and learn directly from markets, partners, and field teams. Experience with regulated operations, infrastructure, autonomous systems, or real estate development is valuable.
