SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
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 is redefining logistics and access to essential goods globally.
As Regional Head for the Middle East, you will create and grow Zipline's business and operating footprint across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This is a zero-to-one leadership role where you will personally define the region's market entry strategy, establish critical relationships, develop commercially sound network models, and take complex opportunities through to launch. As markets mature, you will recruit and lead country teams with growing responsibility for local operations, customer outcomes, business performance, and expansion.
Key responsibilities include:
- Building and prioritizing a regional opportunity portfolio across government, institutional, and commercial pathways
- Creating senior partnerships with governments, health systems, public agencies, and development partners
- Developing commercial partnerships with private-sector customers across retail, healthcare, food, logistics, and other sectors
- Translating Zipline's aircraft and platform capabilities into locally relevant business propositions
- Structuring and closing complex deals involving commercial terms, procurement, financing, contracts, and governance
- Working with governments and regulators to establish policy, regulatory, operational, and stakeholder conditions for deployment
- Leading launch readiness and maintaining accountability from partnership through launch and expansion
- Building and leading in-country commercial, government-partnership, and operational teams
- Owning regional business performance including revenue, unit economics, and P&L as operations scale
- Serving as Zipline's senior external representative with governments, customers, partners, investors, and regulators
Requirements:
- Exceptional business development, strategic partnership, or commercial leadership experience with demonstrated ability to originate, structure, and close complex deals
- Strong commercial judgment and ability to develop credible hypotheses about value creation, test them rigorously, and build durable businesses
- Ability to engage credibly with senior government stakeholders and navigate public-sector decision-making, procurement, policy, and institutional dynamics
- Deep practical knowledge of Middle East markets, key stakeholders, decision-making processes, and ability to build momentum across varied political, commercial, and cultural environments
- Experience managing long, ambiguous, multi-stakeholder negotiation processes involving competing interests and novel commercial or operating models
- Hands-on, entrepreneurial approach with willingness to open doors personally, solve problems directly, and create momentum before large local organization exists
- Leadership range to build and develop teams over time, including country-level leaders
- Strong cross-functional leadership and ability to work effectively with global product, engineering, operations, legal, regulatory, finance, and commercial teams
- Exceptional communication and negotiation skills with senior government officials, C-suite executives, frontline partners, and technical teams
- Willingness to travel extensively across the region
- Ability to be based in the Middle East and eligibility to work there
