Fleet Commander / RPIC
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.
You will be Fleet Commander (RPIC) on Zipline's Flight Operations team, based onsite at our Fleet Command facility in South San Francisco, CA. This is an owner-level operations role: you will be the accountable RPIC for a large, highly autonomous BVLOS aircraft fleet that delivers critical payloads. Your work directly affects safety, regulatory compliance, mission throughput, and uptime for our US operations as we scale flight volume and geographic coverage.
What You'll Do- Act as Responsible Person in Charge (RPIC) for all assigned sorties: own preflight planning, launch and recovery decisions, in-flight monitoring, and final mission disposition for multiple concurrent aircraft.
- Execute high-volume commercial flight operations to meet daily launch and delivery targets while maintaining required safety margins and regulatory permissions.
- Monitor weather, system health, telemetry, and airspace status continuously; make immediate go/no-go and diversion decisions and implement mitigations for anomalies.
- Triage and resolve fleet issues in real time (hardware faults, autonomy degradations, comms loss), coordinate fixes with maintenance and engineering, and record root-cause and corrective actions.
- Maintain operational compliance: follow and enforce documented policies, standard operating procedures, and FAA-authorized constraints; prepare for and support audits or regulatory inquiries.
- Own operational metrics for your shift: track and drive KPIs such as on-time delivery rate, mission success rate, and aircraft availability; escalate trends that threaten safety or throughput.
- Complete administrative tasks, training, and qualification maintenance on schedule; provide accurate shift logs and incident reports.
- Interface cross-functionally with maintenance/tech ops, engineering, safety & compliance, and site leadership to implement process or system changes that improve safety and throughput.
- Title/seniority: Fleet Commander (RPIC), Flight Operations (on-site, South San Francisco).
- Hard requirements: FAA-issued Part 107 remote pilot certificate and completion of Zipline Fleet Commander (RPIC) training (training provided; includes ~2-week course near Charlotte).
- Valid driver's license.
- Proven operational experience: prior UAS or manned flight operations experience with direct RPIC or PIC responsibility and demonstrated decision authority during abnormal and emergency situations.
- Measurables and intensity: comfort owning KPIs and operating in an environment measured by flight volume, uptime, and incident metrics; accountable for maintaining safety-critical outcomes under time pressure.
- Technical skills: ability to read telemetry and basic system diagnostics, perform structured troubleshooting, and communicate findings clearly to engineering and maintenance partners.
- Logistics and availability: this is an on-site role. Must be willing to work some nights and weekends and travel ~10% (training and occasional site launches). You will be expected to maintain qualification currency and pass required pre-employment screens.
- Traits: decisive under pressure, meticulous in checklist-driven execution, and disciplined in logging and compliance (no generic phrases).
Location & other constraints
On-site at Fleet Command facility, South San Francisco, CA. Zipline will provide required training and cover approved travel for that training.
Please note that:
This is a full-time position and the compensation range for this role is $39.50 - $48/ hour.
Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.
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!
