Country Director, Côte d'Ivoire at Zipline · Abidjan

About Zipline

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products.

Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe.

We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds.

About You and the Role

We are seeking a strategic, mission-driven Country Director to oversee and grow Zipline’s entire business in Côte d’Ivoire. This is the most senior role in-country, responsible for the P&L, commercial success, operational excellence, and long-term sustainability of our presence. This role reports directly to the CEO, Africa.

As the Country Director, Côte d’Ivoire, you will own the full performance of the business—from revenue growth and customer expansion to operational reliability and stakeholder satisfaction. You will directly manage operating units around the country, ensuring that Zipline consistently meets high standards of service quality, safety, and customer delight.

You will be the face of Zipline in Côte d’Ivoire, cultivating relationships with government partners, development organizations, funders, and key decision-makers. At the same time, you will be the internal driver of strategy, alignment, and accountability, ensuring that the business thrives by serving customers exceptionally well and building deep, lasting value for the country.

A strong candidate brings significant leadership experience, commercial instincts, operational understanding, and the ability to guide a complex business toward growth and impact.

What You’ll Do

Business Ownership & Leadership

• Own the overall health, performance, and growth of Zipline Côte d’Ivoire, including revenue, costs, service quality, and customer outcomes.
• Hold full P&L responsibility, ensuring the business is financially sustainable and primed for long-term expansion.
• Directly manage and coach Zipline Distribution Center (“Nest”) Operations Leads, ensuring operational excellence, reliability, and safety standards are consistently met at our nests across the country.
• Develop and execute annual business strategies and plans aligned with Zipline’s global priorities and the Côte d’Ivoire market, partnering closely with functional leads in Logistics, Procurement, New Deployments, Finance, Legal, HR, Recruiting, IT, Marketing, Engineering, Regulatory, and more.
• Lead cross-functional decision-making, risk assessments, and resource prioritization for the country.

Customer Experience, Partnerships & Growth

• Own the full customer lifecycle in the public and private sector—from initial engagement and contracting to implementation, scaling, and long-term partnership expansion.
• Lead impact, economic value, and solution-design conversations with clients, ensuring Zipline’s services deliver meaningful health, economic, and operational outcomes.
• Design and execute plans to integrate Zipline’s logistics and data services into government systems and partner workflows for maximum return on investment.
• Drive pipeline growth across health, agriculture, and additional sectors that can benefit from Zipline’s infrastructure.
• Strengthen relationships with government agencies, funders, development partners, and implementing organizations to support growth and national adoption.

Internal Leadership & Strategic Alignment

• Work closely with Zipline’s global and regional leadership—including the CEO, Africa—to shape the country’s long-term strategy, growth roadmap, and operational model.
• Ensure strong alignment and collaboration between commercial, operational, regulatory, and global teams.
• Serve as the key conduit of market insights, customer feedback, and operational realities to influence product, strategy, and global decision-making.
• Foster a culture of accountability, customer obsession, team development, and continuous improvement across the Côte d’Ivoire organization.

What You’ll Bring

• 8+ years of experience in business leadership, sales, partnerships, operations, or government affairs
• Experience managing teams and leading a business unit or P&L strongly preferred
• Proven track record of driving both revenue growth and operational performance
• Experience selling complex solutions or working with government and development partners (preferred)
• Strong strategic, analytical, and execution capabilities
• Ability to deeply understand customer needs and design solutions that deliver clear value
• Exceptional communication, relationship-building, and presentation skills
• Adaptability, creativity, and self-motivation
• A collaborative leadership style and a commitment to customer success
• Fluency in French & English required

Ability to travel: Up to 50%

What Else You Need to Know

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

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Please Note

We have received reports stating that certain individuals are reaching out to people under false pretenses, claiming to be Zipline employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives. They may seek to gain access to your personal information or to acquire money from you by offering fictitious employment opportunities or by claiming that they are contacting you on Zipline’s behalf.

Genuine Zipline employees or representatives will never ask you for money or payment in exchange for employment opportunities or other related services. Any such offer of employment or any other service in exchange for fees that claims to be from us is deceitful and part of a fraud.

If you believe you have been targeted by a fraudulent party, we ask that you immediately get in touch with us via email at security@flyzipline.com upon receiving a suspicious offer or claim.