---
title: 'Launch & Scale Intern (Spring 2027) at Zipline'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/launch-scale-intern-spring-2027-zipline-south-san-francisco-california-nz5kq309yceb'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Launch & Scale Intern (Spring 2027) at Zipline 

- **Company:** Zipline 
- **Location:** South San Francisco California, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-09-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://www.zipline.com/open-roles/7984998003?gh_jid=7984998003

## Job description

## 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 the Launch & Scale Team

The Launch & Scale team builds the operating system that brings new sites, metros, and partners online and helps the network scale reliably. We turn complex dependencies into clear launch plans, readiness mechanisms, tools, and operating rhythms. We partner across infrastructure, permitting, flight operations, maintenance, commercial, partner readiness, and field operations. Our work stays close to real launches so that field lessons become repeatable systems rather than one-off fixes. As an intern, you will report to the Director, Launch & Site Operations and work closely with Launch Managers and cross-functional teams that bring the network online.

## The Role

As the Launch & Scale Intern, you will contribute to a high-impact project that improves how Zipline plans, executes, and learns from launches. You will support Launch Managers by bringing structure to dependencies, analyzing readiness and performance, and helping teams turn field lessons into repeatable tools. You may spend time close to active launches, but you will work with experienced teammates rather than serve as the accountable launch owner. You will also own a clearly scoped project—such as a dashboard, process improvement, playbook, or lightweight automation—from problem definition through pilot and handoff. Along the way, you will receive coaching from the Director, Launch & Site Operations and collaborate with operators, engineers, commercial teammates, and field teams.

## What You'll Do

- Support integrated launch plans for assigned workstreams by organizing milestones, dependencies, owners, risks, and open decisions.
- Analyze launch and site-operations data to identify bottlenecks, inconsistencies, and opportunities to improve speed, quality, or repeatability.
- Prepare materials for readiness reviews and operating forums, including concise status summaries, action logs, and decision briefs.
- Work with Launch Managers and functional teams to follow up on commitments, reconcile conflicting information, and surface blockers early.
- Build or improve practical tools such as dashboards, playbooks, templates, checklists, or lightweight automations.
- Participate in selected onsite launch activities, capture field observations, and translate lessons into process improvements.
- Own a scoped internship project from problem definition through pilot, measurement, and an accepted handoff to the team.

## What You'll Bring

- Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or graduate degree in operations, engineering, business, supply chain, data and analytics, or a related field.
- Structured problem-solving skills and curiosity about how complex physical or technical systems work.
- Comfort with quantitative analysis, including spreadsheets and at least one data or automation tool such as SQL, Python, or a business-intelligence platform.
- Clear written and verbal communication, with the ability to make complex information easy to understand.
- Evidence of following through on a project involving multiple contributors through coursework, work, research, or extracurricular experience.
- Comfort operating in ambiguity, asking good questions, incorporating feedback, and staying reliable on details.
- Ability to work onsite in South San Francisco and willingness to travel occasionally within the United States to support launches.

What Else You Should Know

This internship is a full-time position, in-person at our South San Francisco office. We will host our Spring 2027 interns from January to April. Zipline is unable to sponsor work visas for applicants to this position.

The hourly rate for this internship is $34 per hour. Additional benefits may include relocation support, a housing stipend, overtime pay, paid sick time, and other benefits, where applicable and subject to local requirements.

Candidates are limited to three (3) applications within a 30-day period.

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.

Zipline is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your point of contact at Zipline know if you require any accommodations throughout your interview process. Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

## About Zipline 

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Zipline is an American robotics company that operates the world’s largest autonomous drone delivery service, transporting medical supplies, food, and retail goods across multiple continents.
- **Entity Type**: Private (early-stage startup)
- **Headquarters**: South San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: March 2014
- **Founders**: Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Keenan Wyrobek, Ryan Oksenhorn, William Hetzler

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Logistics / Drone delivery
- **Target customers**: B2B (healthcare systems, governments, retailers like Walmart and Chipotle) and B2C (home delivery via the Zipline app)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Build the first logistics system that serves all people equally” – initially focused on saving lives by delivering blood and medicine to remote communities, now expanded to instant urban delivery.

## Products & Services
- **Platform 1 (P1)**: Long-range, rural delivery drone. Carries up to 4 lbs, roundtrip range 120+ miles, cruise speed 60 mph. Uses parachute delivery. Designed for enterprise, government, and healthcare supply chains.
- **Platform 2 (P2)**: Urban/suburban home delivery drone. Carries up to 8 lbs, service radius 10 miles (or 24 miles one way), cruise speed 70 mph. Delivers via a tether from up to 300 ft, allowing contactless drop-off. Launched in 2025 and used for food, retail, and health products.
- **Zipping Points**: Modular ground stations that allow businesses to load orders onto drones without specialized equipment.
- **FlightIQ**: Advanced onboard autonomy and perception suite for safe navigation and delivery.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: 2 million commercial deliveries completed (as of January 2026) and 130 million autonomous miles flown.[wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipline_(drone_delivery_company))[zipline-fact-sheet](https://www.zipline.com/about/zipline-fact-sheet)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not disclosed in available sources. Key partners include Walmart, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Crumbl, Blaze Pizza, Wendy’s, and many other restaurant brands. In healthcare, works with more than 5,000 hospitals and health centers.
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded into urban home delivery in 2025 (P2) with service in Pea Ridge, Arkansas and 20+ communities in Dallas-Fort Worth. Obtained FAA authorization for beyond visual line of sight operations. Reports 56% decrease in maternal mortality and 66% decrease in missed malaria treatments in served regions.[zipline-fact-sheet](https://www.zipline.com/about/zipline-fact-sheet)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Autonomous drone fleet**: One of the world’s largest commercial deployments of autonomous robots, with custom software running on Nvidia chips.
- **FAA approval**: All operations and aircraft are FAA-approved, including pioneering use of Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM).
- **Quieter than road vehicles**: Drones hover high and descend on a tether, generating noise lower than common neighborhood sounds.
- **Extensive testing**: One of the largest aviation testing campaigns, with operations in rain, wind, and storms.
- **Integrated logistics platform**: Beyond drones, Zipline provides warehousing, inventory management, cold chain storage, and fulfillment software.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling the Platform 2 urban delivery network across the U.S., particularly through partnerships with major retailers and restaurants.
- Deepening healthcare impact by expanding into new countries and product categories (prescriptions, groceries, convenience items).
- Continuing to reduce delivery times and environmental footprint (0 emissions per delivery, compared to automotive delivery).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture values**: Ownership & Accountability, Direct Feedback & Communication, Continuous Improvement, Customer Obsession, Servant Leadership (as stated on careers page). Emphasis on “Make it matter” and mission-driven work.[careers](https://www.zipline.com/careers)
- **Work environment**: Headquartered in South San Francisco with hardware and software teams. The company assembles its drones in America. Likely on-site given the hardware focus; remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated.
- **Impact**: Opportunity to work on life-saving technology (60,000+ lives saved) and shape the future of instant logistics.
- **Engineering culture**: Build and iterate on autonomous systems, airspace deconfliction, and large-scale robotics deployments.

## Sources
1. [Zipline Careers](https://www.zipline.com/careers)
2. [Zipline Homepage](https://www.zipline.com/)
3. [About Zipline](https://www.zipline.com/about)
4. [Zipline Fact Sheet](https://www.zipline.com/about/zipline-fact-sheet)
5. [Wikipedia - Zipline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipline_(drone_delivery_company))
6. [Greenhouse Careers Page](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/flyzipline)

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