Head of Weather Systems

Overview

Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. The technology includes robotics and autonomy to decarbonize delivery and build a more resilient global supply chain. The goal is to provide equitable access and to power initiatives from Rwanda and Ghana to Walmart and U.S. healthcare providers.

Join Zipline to help build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.

• Design and develop automated weather monitoring systems to make real-time go/no-go decisions for missions, and forecast incoming weather conditions that would require pausing deliveries.
• Define requirements on flyable weather conditions to achieve business performance goals within the context of automated risk system performance.
• Set the pace on simulation- and real-world-based weather-related validation strategies, including assessing weather system risk decisions, operations simulations, and developing weather models in Zipline’s high-fidelity flight simulation tools.
• Enable and maintain strong, unambiguous communication with customer, fulfilment and flight operations teams, setting expectations for system uptime on seasonal and daily timescales.
• Drive the development of ground- and air-based sensing to support risk posture calculations in a scalable and cost-effective way.

• Minimum of 5+ years of industry experience, and either proven people leadership or readiness to own and develop a small team (3–5 direct reports).
• Advanced proficiency with scientific Python and libraries for data analysis (Pandas, Numpy, Scipy, Matplotlib, XArray, NetCDF); ability to learn new languages/libraries (e.g., Rust, C++) and cloud-native experience with Kubernetes and/or AWS.
• Familiarity with geospatial and meteorological datasets, and experience processing large datasets across distributed systems; ideally experience with Kafka or other streaming data systems.
• Strong understanding of descriptive statistics, probability and linear algebra; expertise in a wide range of machine learning and statistical techniques and ability to choose appropriate tools.
• Adept at summarizing large datasets visually for diverse audiences and turning weather prediction uncertainty into business certainty.
• Excellent understanding of meteorology and climatology, with the ability to communicate underlying physics and challenges to a broad audience.
• Self-directed with ability to drive a roadmap, prioritize, and set the pace for a small team; focus on improving development tools and processes and helping others work smarter.
• Experience with aircraft flight and aviation weather and regulation is helpful; willingness to learn rapidly; ability to work with flight sciences teams. An ability to influence weather considerations is advantageous but not essential.

This role is based at Zipline's South San Francisco HQ with a minimum of 5 days per week in the office. Must be eligible to work in the US and travel globally as needed.

The starting cash range for this role is $235,000 to $255,000
. This is a target starting range for candidates meeting minimum qualifications. Final pay depends on experience, qualifications, skills, location, and impact. The total compensation package may include equity, discretionary bonuses, and 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. We value diversity and welcome applications from those traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply.