Senior Analyst – Network Planning & Site Strategy

About You and The Role

Zipline is on a mission to transform how goods move by making autonomous drone delivery the fastest most reliable and most delightful logistics system in the world. With the launch of our P2 system in January 2025 deliveries in the United States are growing rapidly and we are preparing to scale our physical network at unprecedented speed.

Were looking for a Senior Analyst to help decide where Zipline builds next. Over the next two years we will deploy hundreds of charging and delivery sites across the U.S. and this role will play a central part in determining which metros we enter where within those metros we build and how much infrastructure we deploy.

This is not a traditional analytics role. You wont be handed clean datasets and narrowly defined questions. Instead youll work in a highly ambiguous novel problem space finding creating and integrating data where it doesnt yet exist. Youll partner closely with go-to-market real estate engineering and operations teams to translate spatial commercial and operational complexity into clear recommendations for leadership.

To succeed you must be comfortable owning open-ended problems working deeply with Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) and building scalable analyses tools and automations that enable Zipline to grow faster and smarter.

What Youll Do

Network & Site Strategy:
Evaluate potential metros and charging locations using GIS mapping tools and diverse datasets. Youll help define where Zipline should expand how infrastructure should be distributed and what constraints matter most.

Real Estate Decision Support:
Provide clear data-backed guidance to real estate teams on where to search how much to build and how to evaluate tradeoffs in lease terms site characteristics and long-term flexibility.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Work closely with sales customer success real estate engineering and operations to align spatial planning decisions with commercial demand operational feasibility and customer needs.

Visualization & Communication:
Create clear compelling GIS visualizations and analytical outputs that distill complex spatial and operational dynamics into simple executive-ready conclusions.

Scaling Through Automation & AI:
Build repeatable tools workflows and automations leveraging AI where appropriate so that site evaluation and metro planning can scale beyond you and be used broadly across Zipline.

Problem Framing in Ambiguity:
Develop reasonable assumptions and proxy metrics when perfect data doesnt exist. Youll identify creative ways to answer critical questions despite incomplete or noisy information.

What Youll Bring

High Ownership & Initiative:
You are a self-starter who thrives in unstructured environments. When you dont have the exact data you need you find a way forward whether through proxies external datasets or novel approaches.

GIS & Spatial Analysis Experience:
At least 3-5 years of hands-on experience with geospatial data wrangling querying analysis visualization and validation.

Business Judgment:
Strong intuition for how analytical insights translate into business impact. You can evaluate tradeoffs in cost risk and scalability including the implications of lease terms and infrastructure investments.

Analytical & Technical Fluency:
Advanced proficiency in Excel and Google Sheets. Comfort using AI tools for analysis light programming and troubleshooting. Familiarity with SQL and Python is expected. Zipline primarily uses open source GIS tools such as QGIS.

Executive Communication:
Ability to present conclusions with clarity and poise. You can simplify complex analyses clearly state assumptions build executive standard presentations and guide leadership toward confident decisions.

Comfort with Ambiguity:
You are energized by novel problems and uncertain inputs. You make thoughtful assumptions test them and iterate quickly in pursuit of better answers.

Why This Team

Direct Ownership of Expansion:
Your work will directly influence where Zipline builds infrastructure and how fast we scale across the United States. You will be the key person helping guide where drone delivery goes next at a macro and micro level.

Cross-Functional Impact:
Youll partner with some of Ziplines most critical teams from real estate and go-to-market to engineering and operations shaping decisions that span the entire company.

Build Something New:
This is a chance to help define how network planning and spatial analytics work in a brand-new industry. Youll have the freedom to invent tools processes and frameworks from the ground up.

High Trust High Impact:
We value speed rigor and judgment. Your analyses wont sit in decks theyll inform real decisions that unlock growth and operational excellence.

What Else You Need to Know