Company details

HEADCOUNT

1000-2999

ORG TYPE

Startup

SECTOR

Transportation & Infrastructure

WEBSITE

https://www.zipline.com

About the company

Zipline designs, manufactures, and operates autonomous drones and supporting logistics systems for fast delivery of medical products and other essentials. Zipline’s work blends hardware, robotics, autonomy software, flight operations, and site operations, so teams range from engineering and manufacturing through to training and customer operations. Zipline also runs an Emerging Talent internship program built around meaningful project work rather than observational placements. Recent funding announcements in January 2026 frame Zipline as expanding US commercial delivery into additional cities and states.

Locations and presence

Zipline operates across the United States and multiple African countries, with a strong on-site footprint tied to manufacturing, engineering, test sites, and flight operations. Public role listings commonly reference hubs such as South San Francisco, Dallas, and Rwanda, alongside other regional operations locations.

Palpable Score

65.9

/ 100

Zipline offers credible early-career access through a visible internship pipeline and a handful of coordinator-style operational roles with clear scope and pay bands. The limiting factor is outcomes: public signals about progression and retention for early-career cohorts are thin, and job-security sentiment is mixed.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

14.0

/ 20

The company runs an Emerging Talent internship program with multiple Summer 2026 roles (including site operations and recruiting coordination), which is a clear, repeatable entry route.
Zipline posts operational early-career-adjacent roles like Training Coordinator and some technician tracks, which can suit first- or second-job candidates.
The company’s overall openings still skew experienced in many functions (engineering, supply chain leadership, and program roles), so early-career access is meaningful but not the dominant hiring pattern.

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Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

14.0

/ 20

The company has candidate-reported interview stats showing a roughly mid-range experience score and an average time-to-hire of about four weeks, suggesting a defined but not lightweight process.
Zipline internship and operations postings are explicit about on-site expectations, travel, and core responsibilities, reducing “mystery scope” risk.
The company has enough mixed candidate accounts of process consistency (especially across functions and locations) that the fairness score cannot reach top-tier.

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Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

15.3

/ 20

The company’s Emerging Talent program spells out structured support like intern-exclusive events, leader access, and cross-functional mentoring.
Zipline’s internship materials explicitly set expectations for meaningful work and real-world skill-building rather than low-level tasks.
The company shares fewer role-level coaching details for non-intern, early-career hires (for example buddy systems, 30/60/90 plans, or manager 1:1 cadence), so ongoing support beyond internships is harder to verify.

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Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

12.8

/ 20

The company publishes pay bands on several roles that early-career candidates might target, including hourly ranges for internships and training roles.
Zipline’s internship postings include concrete hourly pay and make clear the roles are paid, full-time summer placements.
The company’s benefits picture looks uneven in public summaries (for example mixed clarity on retirement matching), and salary ranges are not consistently visible on every role channel.

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Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

9.8

/ 20

The company has public employee sentiment that includes job-security anxiety and internal change concerns, which is a retention risk for early-career hires.
Zipline describes internship conversions as part of program operations, but does not publish broader early-career outcomes like promotion timelines or retention rates.
The company’s recent expansion and hiring signals suggest continued growth, but that is not a substitute for verified early-career progression proof over 12–24 months.

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