Vacancy title:
Director of Country Operations
Employment type: Full time, Industry: Professional Services, Category: Management, Business Operations, Transportation & Logistics
Jobs at:
Zipline Rwanda
Deadline of this Job:
Thursday, November 19 2026
Duty Station:
Kigali, Rwanda | Kigali
Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, November 5 2026, Base Salary: Not Disclosed
JOB DETAILS:
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 operates one of the most advanced autonomous logistics networks in the world. As we scale across countries and deepen our partnerships, delivering consistent operational performance while maintaining rigorous standards of execution is mission-critical. We are seeking a Country Head of Product to own operational performance, continuous improvement, and standards execution across all Nests within a country. This role serves as the in-country owner of operational excellence, ensuring that performance targets are achieved sustainably, safely, and in alignment with Zipline's global operating model. Working closely with Nest Leads, Compliance Officers, and Global Operations and Engineering teams, the Country Head of Product is responsible for identifying systemic issues, driving structured problem-solving, leading implementation of operational and product improvements, and ensuring consistent adoption of global standards across the country. Success in this role requires exceptional systems thinking, operational leadership, cross-functional influence, and the ability to drive accountability without direct authority.
What You'll Do
Own Country Operational Performance
- Own country-level operational and service KPIs across all Nests.
- Drive accountability with Nest Leads to achieve performance targets and close operational gaps.
- Monitor performance trends and identify opportunities to improve service quality, reliability, and efficiency.
- Ensure consistent execution and operational performance across the network.
Ensure Excellence in Execution
- Collaborate with Global Operations Excellence and Governance teams to uphold quality, safety, and compliance performance across every Nest location.
- Ensure SOPs, operational standards, and governance frameworks are consistently implemented across all Nests.
- Act as the primary in-country operational point of contact for regulatory matters, partnering with Global Regulatory to support audits, inspections, and engagements.
- Partner with Compliance Officers to identify execution gaps and drive corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
Drive Continuous Improvement
- Lead structured root cause analysis (RCA) on major operational issues and recurring performance challenges.
- Drive cross-functional improvement initiatives in partnership with Global Operations Excellence, Product, Engineering, and Operations teams.
- Translate operational, customer, and field insights into prioritized improvement opportunities.
- Deliver measurable improvements in service performance, scalability, and unit economics.
Connect Country Operations to Global Teams
- Represent country operational interests by communicating critical field observations and institutional knowledge to Global teams.
- Lead rollout and adoption of operational, product, and system changes.
- Ensure alignment with global operating models, governance frameworks, regulatory requirements, and standards.
- Partner with Global Regulatory, Ops and Engineering teams to support regulatory approvals and operational readiness for new products, services, and market expansions.
- Support the evolution of products, processes, and operating standards through field-based insights.
What Success Looks Like
- Country-level operational and service KPIs consistently meet or exceed targets.
- Performance gaps are identified quickly and resolved through structured, sustainable solutions.
- Operational standards are consistently executed across all Nests.
- Quality, safety, and compliance performance remain strong and audit-ready.
- Product, process, and system changes are adopted successfully without operational degradation.
- Continuous improvement initiatives deliver measurable gains in service performance, efficiency, and cost.
- Operational insights from the field influence meaningful improvements in global systems, products, and standards.
What You'll Bring
- 5+ years of experience in operations, engineering, logistics, manufacturing, quality, program management, or related fields.
- Demonstrated success driving operational performance and continuous improvement in complex environments.
- Strong problem-solving and root cause analysis capabilities, with a track record of delivering sustainable improvements.
- Strong project management skills and the ability to drive execution across teams without direct authority.
- Analytical fluency with operational, quality, and cost-performance metrics.
- Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both local and global teams.
- Grit, ownership, and resilience to operate in high-accountability, high-ambiguity environments.
What Else You Need to Know
- This role is based in-country and will require regular field visits (~50% travel) to Zipline operational sites.
- You must have the legal right to work in Rwanda
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 60
Level of Education: bachelor degree
Job application procedure
Complete the online application form. Required fields include first name, last name, gmail, country, phone, location (city), resume/CV, LinkedIn profile, and the following response: “Using an example, tell us briefly about your technical experience that makes you suitable for this role.”
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