Head of Software Engineering, Commerce Platform
Zipline
ABOUT ZIPLINE
Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing, and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments, and consumers.
The technology is complex, but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through robotics, autonomy, and software, we are decarbonizing delivery, reducing congestion, and building a more resilient global supply chain.
Join Zipline and help us make good on our promise.
ABOUT THE TEAM
The Commerce team in Application Software owns the software that connects customers, partners, and operations into a single cohesive platform. This team sits at the center of Zipline’s commercial and operational strategy.
The team is responsible for both B2C and B2B experiences, spanning customer mobile ordering, partner and merchant tools, serviceability platforms, partner integrations, customer support tools, and the fulfillment and picking systems that turn orders into successful deliveries.
The systems the team builds directly shape customer trust, partner success, operational efficiency, and Zipline’s ability to scale new business models. Engineers on this team operate as product thinkers, working closest to customers and partners and owning the systems that determine whether ordering is intuitive, fulfillment is reliable, and partners succeed on the platform.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are looking for a senior engineering leader to join Zipline as Head of Software Engineering, Commerce Platform. In this role, you will define the vision, strategy, and product roadmap for Zipline’s marketplace and commerce software across both B2C and B2B domains, ensuring that what we build delivers meaningful customer impact and scales with the business. You will set priorities, make tradeoffs, and drive alignment across stakeholders to translate that vision into execution. You will directly own both product direction and engineering execution for the Commerce platform, defining what we build and ensuring it is delivered with technical excellence. You will be accountable for the outcomes of the Commerce platform, including customer adoption, partner success, system reliability, and the platform’s ability to scale with the business.
You will lead multiple engineering teams responsible for the systems that power customer ordering, partner interactions, and fulfillment execution. This is a high-intensity leadership role in a fast-moving environment where clarity, velocity, and accountability are expected. You will set long-term direction, establish architectural and organizational standards, and ensure that near-term priorities align with a durable commercial strategy. You will partner across engineering leadership to advance AI-enabled developer workflows, while leading the integration of AI capabilities into systems to move faster and build smarter products.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
- Define, own, and evolve the product roadmap for Zipline’s marketplace and commerce platforms, setting priorities based on customer impact, business outcomes, and technical leverage.
- Lead, mentor, and grow multiple engineering teams, developing strong engineering leaders and a culture of ownership and accountability.
- Set the technical and architectural direction for commerce systems, including mobile apps, backend services, integrations, and fulfillment workflows.
- Partner closely with the Commercial teams to translate business strategy into clear roadmaps and execution plans.
- Identify and integrate AI-driven capabilities into Zipline’s marketplace and commerce products, enhancing customer experience, partner operations, and decision-making across the platform.
- Ensure all commerce systems are reliable, scalable, and observable at meaningful scale, supporting rapid growth in customers, partners, and transaction volume.
- Establish and uphold engineering standards for quality, security, performance, and operational excellence.
- Navigate ambiguity and competing priorities with clarity, making decisive, data-informed decisions and holding teams accountable for results.
- Re-architect and simplify core commerce systems to support 10x+ growth in users, partners, and transaction volume without sacrificing reliability or velocity.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
- Proven experience as a senior engineering leader managing multiple teams in complex, customer-facing software environments.
- Demonstrated ownership of product vision and roadmap, including setting strategy and priorities, with a track record of translating ambiguous problem spaces into high-impact software.
- Prior experience building or leading B2C and B2B marketplace and commerce platforms, ideally within e-commerce or food delivery industries.
- Strong technical foundation with experience designing and scaling distributed systems and mobile applications.
- Strong judgment in architectural and organizational decisions that balance speed, quality, and long-term platform health, with the ability to drive alignment and execution across engineering teams.
- A product-leaning mindset with a deep appreciation for customer and partner experience.
- Experience working with technologies such as React Native, Python, Go, Kafka, and AWS, or comparable stacks.
- Demonstrated ability to leverage AI strategically to scale engineering productivity and build differentiated capabilities into customer-facing systems.
- Excellent cross-functional communication skills and the ability to influence across engineering, operations, and executive stakeholders.
- A leadership style that emphasizes clarity, trust, high standards, and developing people.
- A track record of building high-velocity engineering teams that consistently deliver measurable outcomes on ambitious timelines.
- Experience operating in environments with real-world consequences where reliability is non-negotiable.
- A bias toward action, a low tolerance for unnecessary processes, and an expectation of high performance.