About Zipline 

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.  As we expand to serve more regions across the globe, we’re excited to connect with top performers in the UK and delight new customers in 2024!

About You and The Role 

The Flight Operations Lead is an administrative leadership role that oversees the entirety of a hub’s operations (i.e., flight ops, maintenance, customer operations) while acting as that hub’s single point of contact within the broader organization. This is responsible for facilitating timely and thoughtful local decision making across teams to help our program’s evolution by monitoring operations in coordination with broader ops leadership. This role will also help facilitate regulatory relationships and strategy. 

Note: Duties and responsibilities are expected to change alongside the operation as additional staff are hired, operations evolve, and new goals emerge.

This position is based in the Newcastle area.

What You’ll Do

• Facilitate daily operations to ensure safe and compliant flights in accordance with documented policies, procedures and regulatory permissions. 
• Coordinate with flight, maintenance, customer operations, and OEM personnel to ensure timely response to downtime, fleet issues, and other abnormalities observed. 
• Liaise between customer and regulatory teams to ensure appropriate procedures are implemented and followed as we expand the number of products delivered.  
• Ensures personnel are scheduled to maintain continuity of operations while adhering to all duty and rest requirements.
• Facilitate tours, visitors, and community events as required.
• Reports to Chief Pilot, with frequent engagement with org leadership including but not limited ops leadership.

Additional Duties / Responsibilities

• Acts as the primary point of contact between local hub and the rest of Zipline (i.e. Ops, OEM, Regulatory), as well as external stakeholders or customers. 
• Provides regular performance feedback to all local team members
• Ensures Flight Event response procedures are carried out as prescribed following an event/emergency.
• Collaborates with discipline leads to ensure all local record keeping requirements are maintained in accordance to operations manuals
• Upon request, assists with audits and operational oversight activities.
• Helps facilitate the rollout of major changes in operations. 
• Assists with ensuring flight and maintenance personnel are trained on applicable operational updates as required.
• Assists with ensuring customer operations personnel are trained on any operational updates to fulfillment procedures 
• Ensures hub personnel are educated and compliant with all safety training and procedures. 
• Assists ops leadership team with identifying staffing needs and net reliability.
• Maintains regular cadence of meetings/communication with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure strategic collaboration and alignment across hub activities and goals.  

Mandatory steps that must be completed upon Hire:

• Must pass a pre-employment drug screen and background check
• Must complete Flight Controller training and qualification
• Must complete initial Maintenance Technician training and qualification
• Must complete applicable lead training as outlined in operational training documentation
• Must complete Customer Operations training 

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years experience in traditional aviation or UAS flight or maintenance operations
• Demonstrated success leading teams in complex, fast-paced, operational environments
• Experience interacting with diverse external stakeholders on behalf of an organization in a professional, competent manner 
• A positive attitude, adept at navigating rapid change in a safety critical environment
• A leadership style that empowers individuals on your team to excel by working well together, and trusted to act decisively on their own, when appropriate 
• A cooperative spirit that thrives in dynamic environments where goals change, new challenges arise everyday, and cross-functional support is required
• Must possess a CAA-issued Flyer ID for remote aircraft operation
• Must be eligible to work in the UK
• Must be able to lift up to 50 lbs 
• Must be willing to work some nights/weekends
• Ability to travel to US for training (~1 month)

What Else You Need to Know