Launch Lead, Rwanda

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 You And The Role

Zipline is bringing its next-generation Precision Delivery system to Africa for the first time, starting in Kigali. This is our first Precision Delivery (P2) network anywhere outside the United States, and the first of its kind on the continent. The person who leads this launch won’t just open a site: they’ll set the model for how Zipline takes Precision Delivery to the rest of the world.

We are seeking a Launch Lead to lead the launch of the Kigali network and establish the operating model for future Precision Delivery expansion across Africa. This is a senior, highly cross-functional role responsible for turning a complex technical deployment into a safe, reliable, partner-ready, customer-serving operation. You will own the integrated launch, bringing together workstreams across Operations, Engineering, Partnerships, Government Affairs, Academy, Supply Chain, and Infrastructure to achieve a successful launch.

Success will require adapting learnings from the US experience to local realities – from staffing and training to partner onboarding, regulatory requirements, customer readiness, and network support. You will spend significant time in the field driving execution while also building the systems, readiness standards, and operating mechanisms that will serve as the foundation for future Precision Delivery launches across Africa.

This role is based in Kigali. After Kigali, you will lead the next Precision Delivery sites in Rwanda and take the playbook to the next markets in Africa

What You'll Do

Own the successful launch of Zipline's first Precision Delivery network in Africa, leading the effort from early readiness planning through launch and stabilization. Build and manage the integrated launch roadmap across infrastructure, operations, staffing, training, partner readiness, customer support, community and regulatory engagement, commercial activation, and network scale-up – ensuring all launch-critical activities have clear owners, timelines, dependencies, risks, and escalation paths. Establish and run the launch operating system, including launch readiness reviews, risk management, dependency tracking, decision logs, executive reporting, launch criteria, and go/no-go mechanisms. You hold the launch gate, and you call not-ready when the system isn't ready. Own the dependency list against the Precision Delivery platform roadmap with Engineering: freeze a minimum credible launch scope, date every dependency, and escalate early when one slips. Get partners live from day one and orders ramping in the first 90 days, owning a shared demand target with Commercial, Partnerships, and Service Integration. Make sure launch-critical teams are hired, trained, and certified with Operations and Academy, and keep approvals and permits on track with the Country Director, Legal, and Regulatory. Translate and adapt the Precision Delivery launch model to the realities of operating in Rwanda and across Africa while maintaining Zipline's global standards. Drive post-launch stabilization, ensuring operational performance, customer experience, and support systems meet expectations; lead the transition to steady-state, including articulation of accountability, operating mechanisms, and performance standards. Capture lessons learned as you go and convert them into scalable playbooks, readiness standards, and operating mechanisms that accelerate future launches across Africa.

What You'll Bring

8+ years of experience leading complex operational programs, launches, deployments, infrastructure rollouts, or marketplace/physical network scaling. Proven track record of owning complex launches or programs where success depended on aligning multiple teams, resolving ambiguity, and driving outcomes, including at least one launch with a hardware or technology-platform dependency. Exceptional program management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage many moving pieces simultaneously without losing focus on critical priorities. Strong operational judgment and the ability to distinguish between a plan that appears complete and a system that is actually ready to operate. You have called a launch not ready and held the line. Product and demand instincts: you care whether customers and partners use the service, not only whether it launched. Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills, with the ability to create alignment and drive decisions across teams with competing priorities. Ability to build structure and create clarity in environments with incomplete information. High ownership, resilience, and persistence in fast-moving environments. Based in Kigali, with significant time in the field.

Nice to Have

Experience operating in Rwanda or East Africa, including with regulators or government partners. Strongly preferred. Experience launching infrastructure, logistics networks, or new market operations. Background in aviation, robotics, autonomous systems, logistics, or last-mile delivery. Experience working with city stakeholders, permitting, or construction workflows.'Experience working with government stakeholders, regulators, or enterprise customers. Background in aviation safety, autonomous-system operations, or large-scale logistics network launches.

What Else You Need to Know

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.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

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.

If you believe you have been targeted by a fraudulent party, we ask that you immediately get in touch with us via email at security@flyzipline.com upon receiving a suspicious offer or claim.

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.

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