Principal Data Scientist, Zipline
Business Optimization & Growth
More information about location
3-5 days a week in office
Transforming the way goods move
Be an early applicant
Transforming the way goods move
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
More information about location
3-5 days a week in office
1001+ employees
Company mission
To build the world's first logistics system that serves all people equally.
Role
Who you are
- With 10+ years of professional experience, you’re comfortable owning ambiguous, high-stakes problems end-to-end, from problem framing through to production-ready solutions
- 10+ years of professional experience, with significant work as a data scientist, optimization researcher, or applied decision scientist, ideally in last-mile delivery, e-commerce, or marketplace platforms
- Deep expertise in applied optimization, causal inference, statistical modeling, and machine learning
- Strong engineering skills in Python and SQL, with experience deploying algorithms into production systems
- Track record of building and scaling experimentation platforms (A/B testing, marketplace simulations, demand forecasting)
- Business acumen and the ability to translate complex models into simple, actionable decisions for cross-functional stakeholders
- Experience with pricing optimization, supply-demand balancing, or customer lifecycle modeling strongly preferred
- Reliability, self-sufficiency, conscientiousness, and comfort navigating ambiguous, high-impact problems in a fast-paced environment
What the job involves
- 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
- To deliver on that promise, we need to master the data-rich, highly dynamic environment of last-mile logistics
- We’re seeking a Principal Data Scientist to lead the development of models, algorithms, and decision frameworks that drive both customer growth and business optimization
- This is not a role for someone who just builds dashboards or runs ad hoc analyses — you’ll design and deploy optimization engines that directly shape customer experience, marketplace dynamics, and the economics of our business
- Your work will ensure Zipline grows fast, scales efficiently, and delivers a magical experience that keeps customers coming back
- Marketplace Growth & Engagement: Use statistical and optimization techniques to determine which restaurants/customers to onboard, how to present them digitally, and what mix maximizes engagement and repeat ordering
- Pricing & Capacity Optimization: Build models that set optimal prices, balance supply and demand, and define customer-facing constraints to maximize revenue while ensuring a great experience
- Customer Experience Tradeoffs: Design frameworks that quantify the ROI of business decisions (e.g., packaging quality, delivery timeliness, customer support investment) and recommend commercial strategies
- Marketing Analytics: Run large-scale A/B tests on customer communications, optimize marketing language and digital merchandising, and build models that accelerate customer acquisition and retention
- Data Leadership: Partner with engineering, operations, and growth teams to embed data science into the core of decision-making across the business
- You’ll work on problems that directly define the success of Zipline’s B2C business: how fast we grow, how efficient we are, and how magical the customer experience feels
- Your work won’t sit on a shelf — the models you build will be deployed in production and used daily to drive millions of decisions
- You’ll shape the data science culture at Zipline, bringing senior-level expertise to a fast-growing team
- You’ll join a group that values rigor, speed, and creativity — solving some of the hardest optimization problems in modern logistics
Our take
Zipline is reinventing how the world moves goods - one flight at a time. What started as a bold idea to deliver life-saving medical supplies by drones has grown into the world's first logistics network designed to serve everyone, everywhere. From rushing blood and vaccines to remote clinics, to dropping off everyday essential for Walmart customers, Ziplines's autonomous drones are proving that fast, reliable delivery doesn't have to be limited by roads or geography.
Zipline has an edge over potential future competitors as the company has thousands of hours and over 35 million miles of flight to prove the system is safe and effective. It’s also one of the first companies to receive a full commercial operating certificate, putting Zipline in a strong position to continuously branch out to other markets.
The unicorn company operates globally and has signed its first government contract with Rwanda to provide up to 2 million drone deliveries by 2029. Beyond government partnerships, Zipline has its sight set on everyday consumers, preparing to launch commercial deliveries straight to individuals houses. With its Walmart collaboration expanding and even Chipotle orders taking to the skies in Texas, Zipline isn't just redefining delivery - it's aiming to reach every corner of commerce, with a future that looks as bright as its ambitions.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
34% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2023
$330m
SERIES F
Jul 2021
$250m
SERIES E
Total funding: $813.7m
Company HQ
South San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton
(Co-Founder & CEO)Having studied Economics and Biotechnology at Harvard, they worked for almost 11 months as a self-employed rock climber. They combined their academic and practical experience to co-found Zipline in July 2011.
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