Senior Manager / Director - Ground Systems Service Operations
$175,000–$250,000 year
On-site · South San Francisco, California, United States
Job Summary
Senior Manager / Director of Ground Systems Service Operations responsible for building and scaling Zipline’s distributed field service organization across US metros. Defining the operating model for service across sites and metros, hiring and retaining leaders and frontline teams (technicians, service specialists, site leads, regional operators), establishing cadence and governance (daily/weekly operations, escalation reviews, site health, safety reviews, dashboards), and delivering end-to-end service processes (training, onboarding, safety, escalation, return-to-service). Partners with Engineering, Launch, Flight Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product, Finance, and Field Operations to ensure clear handoffs. Builds resourcing plans, spares and tooling strategies, safety programs, and documentation standards; drives metrics for asset availability, uptime, throughput, and cost per delivery. Seeks to scale the ground-service network, launch new metros, improve parts readiness, and optimize service economics while maintaining safety and operational excellence. Requires ability to operate strategically and tactically, travel to Zipline sites, and lead from the front with a bias for practical problem solving, low ego, and high ownership.
Required Qualifications
- Demonstrated experience building and scaling an operations/field service organization (operations, service operations, field service, maintenance, fleet, infrastructure, robotics, autonomy, or similar)
- Track record of hiring great leaders and building strong teams underneath them
- Strong organization-building instincts: operating models, roles, staffing plans, training systems, onboarding, safety cadence, management routines, process design
- Experience leading teams that support physical hardware in the field across many sites/metros/regions
- Comfort moving between strategy and execution (multi-metro resourcing, site leadership unblockages)
- Strong operating-system fundamentals: work orders, shift handoffs, tooling control, spares, maintenance, technician assignment, escalation paths, documentation, return-to-service
- Practical safety leadership: training, field inspection, standards, escalation, corrective action, leadership behavior
- Fluency with operational metrics: asset availability, site uptime, downtime, SLA breach rate, work-order aging, productivity, training completion, parts blockers, cost per delivery
- Technical credibility with engineers/techs, ensuring asset back in operation with clean records
- Ability to create clarity under pressure when assets are down or teams conflict
- High standards for culture: direct communication, ownership, safety mindset, urgency
- Willingness to travel regularly to Zipline sites and spend time with service teams
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