Head of Operations, Manna Drone Delivery
Drone delivery service
Job no longer available
Drone delivery service
101-200 employees
Job no longer available
101-200 employees
Company mission
To improve the world by making lightning-fast suburban deliveries affordable, green and safe.
Role
Who you are
- Operational Leadership: You've led medium to large teams across multiple sites and know how to scale
- Process & Continuous Improvement: Proven track record of building and optimizing systems in fast-moving environments
- Data-Driven: You act on data, not gut feel—and know how to use metrics to drive strategic decisions
- Adaptability: Comfortable navigating ambiguity and adjusting as the business evolves
- Hands-On Approach: Willing to dive into details when needed, without losing sight of the bigger picture
- Clear Communicator: You keep your teams aligned—from the site floor to senior leadership
- Flexibility & Resilience: You thrive in high-growth environments, adapt fast, and bring calm to the chaos. Your accountable and responsible and the book stops with you!!
What the job involves
- We have an incredible opportunity for an experienced Head of Operations to take the reins of our fast-scaling drone delivery operations
- You’ll be at the heart of our live operations—ensuring every site runs safely, smoothly, and reliably as we grow at pace
- Reporting directly to our amazing Director of Operations, this is a high-impact, high-visibility role where you’ll lead from the front—driving performance, building for scale, and delivering real results
- Your leadership will define how drone delivery becomes part of everyday life in towns and cities across the globe
- Lead day-to-day execution across our live delivery sites and central operations
- Deliver safe, reliable, high-quality service at scale—every single day
- Monitor performance closely and act quickly to resolve gaps, guided by real-time data and metrics
- Streamline and build scalable systems that enable us to grow fast without compromising on quality or safety
- Continuously improve our processes—not just to maintain, but to multiply impact across new and existing locations
- Balance tactical urgency with long-term systems thinking, ensuring we’re ready for the next phase of growth
- Provide strong, clear leadership to both frontline and central ops teams
- Coach and empower operational leads—building a high-performance culture rooted in accountability, clarity, and support
- Develop the next generation of operational leaders at Manna
- Work hand-in-hand with Engineering, Supply Chain & Facilities, Flight Testing, and more to ensure we’re always ready to go live
- Feed insights from live ops back into the wider business—your voice will help us continuously improve every part of what we build
- Lead with safety—embed it in the culture, not just the checklists
- Partner closely with our Regulation team to stay ahead of compliance and adapt processes as we evolve
- Forecast staffing, equipment, and resourcing needs ahead of the curve
- Own your budget—allocating smartly to meet today’s goals and tomorrow’s ambitions
Our take
Manna Drone Delivery is a drone company that began operating hyper-locally in Ireland, making small deliveries in partnership with JustEat, Tescos, and a number of coffee and book shops. The service has proven popular to the tune of thousands of deliveries, and Manna is now expanding towards full rollout.
Efficient, low-emission, and high agility drones are expected to be the future of last-mile deliveries. Whilst there are some questions as to whether they’re a smart addition to built up areas, the consensus is that they will at least provide a welcome complement to other delivery vehicles. As such, getting in early with the correct technology could open up substantial doors for Manna.
The company is eyeing up US expansion, which may seem ambitious for the relatively small outfit. Bear in mind, however, that Alphabet’s suburban drone delivery subsidiary Wing is carrying out similar hyper-local testing in Logan Australia. This means there’s certainly no major player emerging yet in the US - and the prime candidates are doing precisely what Manna is to get their foot in the door.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
12% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Dec 2024
$32.5m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Apr 2021
$25m
SERIES A
Total funding: $62.7m
Company HQ
Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
Leadership
Bobby Healy
(Founder & CEO)Has spent a period as Non Executive Director at Chill Insurance and CarTrawler, at the latter of which he also worked as CTO and Board Director. Is also currently a Board Director at DEBRA Ireland.
Salary benchmarks
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