Hiring: Head of Public Affairs Company: Zipline Location: South San Francisco, CA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-03 10:33:45 About the job Experience: •10+ years of experience in public affairs, community engagement, grassroots advocacy, coalition building, campaigns, or a closely related field, including significant leadership responsibility. Required Skills: •Build and lead Zipline’s Public Affairs function, including the strategy, operating model, team, tools, budget, and scalable playbooks needed to support rapid growth. •Map the stakeholder landscape in every priority market, identify the people and organizations that shape public opinion and political outcomes, and develop plans to build trust, address concerns, and cultivate champions. •Create enduring relationships with community members, customersusers and merchants, first responders, civic and business leaders, schools, healthcare organizations, faith-based groups, workforce organizations, and other influential institutions and voices.. •Build strategic grassroots, grasstops, and third-party advocacy networks, and activate merchant and user champions, to demonstrate Zipline’s community value, support market launches, and mobilize when the company faces opposition or controversy. •Create scalable systems to receive, respond to, analyze, and learn from community concerns and turn those insights into operational, product, and messaging improvements. •Partner closely with Government Affairs and Communications to win government and public support. •Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, Commercial teams, Customer Experience, Operations, Systems Engineering, Product, and Legal to align strategy, evidence, messaging, and execution. •This role is based in our South San Francisco office and includes travel to Zipline markets and communities across the U.S. and, as needed, internationally. Qualifications: •Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience. •A track record of helping a company launch or scale a new consumer-facing technology, service, or business model amid regulatory, incumbent, or community opposition. •Demonstrated experience building a public affairs or community-engagement capability from the ground up, including strategy, team design, operating processes, measurement, and execution. •Deep experience navigating complex local stakeholder environments and building trusted relationships across communities, civic organizations, business groups, advocacy organizations, and other influential third parties. •Proven ability to develop grassroots and grasstops advocates, build coalitions, and mobilize credible supporters during permitting processes, public hearings, campaigns, protests, or other high-stakes public debates. •Strong judgment in responding to community complaints and public controversy, with the ability to move quickly without sacrificing accuracy, empathy, or long-term trust. •Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technology and technical evidence into clear, credible messages for varied audiences. •A rigorous, analytical approach to stakeholder management, issue tracking, research, data, and measurement—not just events and relationship building. •Strong cross-functional leadership skills and experience influencing Product, Engineering, Operations, Communications, Marketing, Government Affairs, Legal, Safety, and executive teams without relying solely on formal authority. •Strategic and hands-on: able to set the long-term direction, build scalable systems, personally develop critical relationships, and execute in fast-moving or contentious situations. Compensation: •$230,000 - $270,000 / year Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!