Senior Counsel, Commercial

Zipline•South San Francisco, CA

About The Position

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service, on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. They design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products. Their customers include large healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants, and global businesses. The company emphasizes that the drone is only 15% of their system, which strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back, with over 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown. Zipline is looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth, motivated by building systems with direct, meaningful impact and scaling the future of logistics. They seek individuals who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can achieve the impossible at record-breaking speeds. The Zipline Legal Team is searching for an experienced, technically-sound, and process-oriented Senior Counsel who will smoothly and repeatedly close material revenue contracts alongside our Sales Team, and a range of other contracts. In this role, you will be a senior lawyer on sales and business development agreements, working especially closely with the Sales, Operations, and Finance Teams on scoping, drafting, negotiating, and closing agreements across a number of core business verticals. You’ll pair your surgical legal drafting and deft negotiation skills with your tireless project management skills to capture and execute strategic commercial agreements that the business is proud of. You’ll be a core member of a strong, friendly, passionate, in-house legal function and will report to Zipline’s Deputy General Counsel–Head of Commercial.

Requirements

6+ years of relevant legal experience at a top-tier law firm and/or in-house.
JD Degree is required.
Member in good standing of at least one state bar.
A deep understanding of and familiarity with commercial and revenue contracts, including outbound service agreements, in direct support of sales and go-to-market initiatives.
Clear, cogent, and pragmatic contract drafting skills that you are a passionate and prideful nerd about.
You thrive in high-pressure and time-sensitive situations, and love the feeling of undramatically and quickly closing critical revenue contracts for and with the business.
Effective, tactful, friendly, and high-integrity negotiation skills, both verbally and in writing.
Strong communication and project management skills that you deploy when leading the charge to close a deal.
Strong time management skills that enable you to set aggressive but realistic deadlines that you meet (and usually beat), even with competing priorities.
Empathy for your internal customers and stakeholders as well as the customers that you’re negotiating against.
Confidence to make independent judgment calls with conviction–and the instincts to recognize when issues require escalation or input from others.
You don’t overthink issues, rabbit-hole on theoretical risk, or over-negotiate against yourself.
Must be eligible to work in the United States.

Responsibilities

Develop a deep understanding of Zipline’s product and service offerings, business and sales strategy, mission and values.
Draft, structure, review, negotiate, advise, and close material customer agreements and strategic partnerships across all of Zipline’s Sales Teams and business verticals, including food, retail, and healthcare.
Independently manage the entire customer contracting process for deals that you support–from initial scoping to final execution, working cross-functionally with almost every business unit at Zipline, including the Sales, Finance, Information Security, Privacy, Aviation, and Operations Teams.
Contribute to improving Zipline’s deal templates and forms, taking into consideration the business’s goals and any factors unique to the customers that the applicable agreement is targeting.
Help build and socialize thoughtful, repeatable, and rigorous deal processes that bring predictability and calm to your clients on the Sales Team and streamline and simplify deals.
Think outside the box when a strategic transaction calls for it, bringing simple and elegant contractual solutions to potentially convoluted and chaotic situations.
Build genuine relationships with each member of the Sales and Operations Teams so that you are in sync when closing contracts.
When called upon, creatively and efficiently address novel questions and commercial needs that arise across Zipline’s global business.