Director of Aviation Maintenance Operations, East

As Director of Maintenance Operations for the East Region, you will own end-to-end maintenance performance across Zipline’s Regional operations. This is a senior execution role responsible for regional fleet readiness, maintenance systems, staffing, and compliance across multiple distribution hubs and launch sites.

You are not running a single shop. You are building, scaling, and enforcing a maintenance operating model across states, sites, and regulatory contexts. You will set standards, hold leaders accountable, and personally intervene where reliability, safety, or capacity are at risk. Your success is measured in sustained fleet uptime, audit-ready systems, and the ability to scale without surprises.

This role sits at the center of Zipline’s next phase of operational maturity in the US.

• ◆Own Regional Maintenance Performance. You are accountable for maintenance outcomes across your region, including organizational financial performance, fleet asset allocations, system uptime and capacity, deferred maintenance risk, parts availability, and recovery from incidents or systemic issues.
• ◆Lead and Develop Site-Level Leaders. Build, manage, and coach Heads of Maintenance or equivalent leads at each site. Set clear expectations, review performance rigorously, promote ownership and drive accountability, and upgrade talent when needed.
• ◆Design and Enforce Maintenance Systems. Own regional maintenance systems including preventive and corrective maintenance programs, tooling standards, documentation, training programs, scheduling, and escalation paths. Ensure consistency without slowing local execution.
• ◆Drive Reliability at Scale. Anticipate failure modes before they impact operations. Use data, trend analysis, and field insight to prioritize fixes, allocate resources, and prevent repeat issues across sites. Create and execute fleet upgrade and retrofit plans while balancing uptime and resource utilization.
• ◆Ensure Safety and Regulatory Excellence. Maintain audit-ready compliance across all states and regulatory environments. Own traceability, record quality, and adherence to internal and external requirements. Step in personally for audits, findings, or serious incidents.
• ◆Partner Cross-Functionally at the Regional Level. Work closely with Flight Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Business Operations to resolve systemic issues, influence design and policy, and align capacity to demand.
• ◆Support Launches and Expansion. Lead maintenance readiness for new site launches and expansions in the region, including staffing models, tooling, spares strategy, and early-life reliability.

for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.