Counsel, Real Estate

Skills this role screens for

About the role

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

The Zipline Legal Team is searching for an experienced, technically-sound, and process-oriented Counsel who will smoothly and repeatedly close leases for critical infrastructure with our Operations Team, and provide legal support on a range of real estate matters. In this role, you will serve as a key member of the Legal Team supporting real estate agreements, working especially closely with the Site Acquisition Team on scoping, drafting, negotiating, and closing agreements for our drone charging infrastructure. You’ll pair your surgical legal drafting and deft negotiation skills with your project management skills to support the business by efficiently negotiating and closing commercial real estate agreements. 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, while partnering closely with Senior Counsel, Real Estate.

The work

What You'll Do

• Develop a deep understanding of Zipline’s product and service offerings, business strategy, mission and values.
• Confidently, efficiently, and thoughtfully draft, negotiate, and close real estate leases for drone charging infrastructure, maintenance and testing facilities, taking ownership from initial draft through execution.
• Lead the contracting process for the transactions you support—from initial scoping through execution—working cross-functionally with Site Acquisition, Land Use (Legal), Finance, and other teams within Zipline.
• Develop deep expertise in Zipline's lease forms, playbooks, and negotiation strategies, using that expertise to help the team close a high volume of transactions efficiently and consistently.
• Contribute to improving Zipline’s deal templates and forms to better support the business’s goals and improve transaction efficiency.
• Support landlord escalations and contribute to lease management processes.
• Help build and socialize thoughtful, repeatable, and rigorous deal processes that bring predictability and calm to your clients on the Site Acquisitions Team and streamline and simplify deals.
• Build genuine relationships with each member of the Site Acquisition Team so that you are in sync when closing lease agreements.
• When called upon, a willingness to dive-in to provide support on needs that arise across the Legal team.

Also

What You'll Bring

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash range for this role is $150,000 - $180,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; overtime pay; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

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!

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

• Experience drafting and negotiating commercial real estate leases or other commercial real estate agreements.
• Experience with infrastructure, industrial, logistics, telecommunications, or other operational real estate is a plus but not required
• Clear, cogent, and pragmatic contract drafting, communication, and project management skills that you deploy to keep a high volume of transactions moving efficiently across multiple stakeholders.
• You enjoy solving practical legal problems, are comfortable working through ambiguity, and exercise sound legal judgment in novel areas of commercial real estate.
• You thrive in high-pressure and time-sensitive situations and love the feeling of undramatically and quickly closing contracts for and with the business.
• Effective, tactful, friendly, and high-integrity negotiation skills, both verbally and in writing.
• 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.
• You don’t overthink issues, rabbit-hole on theoretical risk, or over-negotiate against yourself.
• Approximately 3–5 years of relevant legal experience supporting commercial real estate transactions. A combination of law firm and in-house experience is preferred, but not required.
• JD Degree required.
• Member in good standing of at least one state bar.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States.