Head of Service Delivery

About the role

Zipline is expanding its African network of distribution sites and needs a senior leader to ensure every site is ready to operate from hand‑over and continues to perform. The Head of Service Delivery, Africa will define operating standards, certify sites, and partner with Country Directors to drive consistent performance.

Key responsibilities

• Write and own a unified operating standards library for the African network, consolidating existing practices.
• Certify each site at go‑live and quarterly thereafter, publishing results.
• Lead Country Operations & Product Leads in each market, reporting to the Head of Operations, Africa.
• Define competency standards for Site Leads and Shift Team Leads, building a pipeline of around 20 new certified Site Leads.
• Publish capacity envelopes for each site based on flight constraints and real data.
• Define operating metrics, set targets with Country Directors, and hold teams accountable.
• Own network operating data, produce monthly site reports, and drive closure of performance gaps.
• Act as Engineering’s primary operations partner, handling field issues, standardisation, and prioritising product requests.

Required profile

• 12+ years managing distributed physical operations to a written standard (e.g., airline ground ops, multi‑site logistics, healthcare networks).
• Experience building standards and certification systems from scratch.
• Proven ability to lead through country or regional leads with dotted‑line authority.
• Track record of scaling operator talent pipelines.
• Strong data instincts and programme/project management skills.

Required skills

• Ability to develop and enforce operating standards across multiple sites.
• Experience with certification processes and competency development.
• Data analysis to set metrics, monitor performance, and drive accountability.