Director of Industry Standards

Director of Industry Standards

South San Francisco, California, USA

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 builds, manufactures, and operates autonomous delivery systems that move critical goods where access is difficult. As commercial UAS delivery scales, the standards adopted now will shape how autonomous aircraft are designed, evaluated, integrated into airspace, and operated safely.

As Director of Industry Standards, you will own Zipline's standards strategy at the intersection of engineering, aviation regulatory strategy, global policy, and IP. You will turn operational experience into credible technical positions, shape external consensus, and give internal leaders clear decisions that protect safe, scalable commercial deployment.

What You'll Do

• Set and lead Zipline's standards strategy across aviation, autonomy, and scaled commercial UAS delivery.
• Prioritize standards bodies, committees, working groups, consortia, and coalitions; define objectives, participation level, and accountable internal owners for each.
• Represent Zipline in forums such as ASTM, RTCA, and other relevant organizations developing foundational UAS standards.
• Convert Zipline's safety practices, technical capabilities, and operational learnings into standards proposals and evidence-based technical contributions.
• Establish governance for approving company positions, technical contributions, disclosures, and standards-related IP risk.
• Translate standards and regulatory developments into roadmap, certification, market-entry, and commercial decisions for Engineering, Aviation Regulatory, Legal, and Commercial teams.
• Brief executive leadership on portfolio priorities, tradeoffs, external positions, risks, and decisions requiring alignment.

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years of experience in aviation, standards development, regulatory affairs, autonomy, or aerospace.
• Aviation expertise developed at an aircraft manufacturer, component manufacturer, operator, aviation service provider, air navigation service provider, or relevant government agency.
• Demonstrated leadership or substantive participation in consensus standards bodies, technical committees, consortia, trade associations, or comparable forums.
• Working knowledge of how standards are developed, adopted, referenced by regulators, and applied to certification, market access, procurement, and commercial strategy.
• Technical fluency to evaluate engineering positions and translate technical or regulatory complexity into clear recommendations.
• Evidence of influencing cross-functional decisions without direct authority and building alignment with regulators, industry peers, certification organizations, and technical experts.
• Based in South San Francisco, California, with ability to travel as required for standards meetings, regulatory engagements, industry convenings, and Zipline operational sites.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash range for this role is $160,000 - $220,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.

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!