Annotation Technical Lead

About Zipline 

Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.

About You and The Role

As the Annotation Technician Level 4 (Technical Lead), you will guide and grow a fast-moving team of annotation specialists across image, video, and 3D point-cloud workflows. You’ll partner closely with Data Science, Robotics, and DevOps to ensure our datasets meet the exact standards needed for safety-critical UAV and autonomous-driving applications. This hands-on leadership role demands both deep annotation expertise and proven people-management skills.

What You'll Do

• Team Leadership & Mentorship
  
  
• Supervise a team of 25+ annotation technicians, setting clear goals, conducting regular reviews, and fostering professional development.
• Coordinate cross-training opportunities to deepen team expertise across modalities (2D/3D/image/video).
  
  
• Workflow Design & Optimization
  
  
• Define, document and continually refine annotation guidelines and SOPs for multi-modal data (e.g., bounding boxes, segmentation masks, keypoints, 3D cuboids).
• Identify bottlenecks, implement automation where possible (scripts, QA checks), and scale workflows to meet growing data demands.
  
  
• Quality Assurance & Standards
  
  
• Establish and enforce quality metrics (accuracy thresholds, inter-annotator agreement) to maintain dataset integrity.
• Lead periodic audits, root-cause analyses, and corrective-action plans.
  
  
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  
  
• Work alongside Machine Learning engineers and research scientists to tailor annotation schemas for new model architectures and sensor suites.
• Liaise with Product and Operations to prioritize data requirements for upcoming feature releases.
  
  
• Data & Tooling
  
  
• Oversee tooling selection and customization.
• Coordinate with software engineers and data scientists to integrate Python or SQL-based analytics for annotation reporting, throughput tracking, and trend analysis.

What You'll Bring  

Essential Qualifications

• 2 + years hands-on experience annotating data for machine-learning: images, video, and/or 3D point clouds.
• Demonstrated expertise in end-to-end annotation workflows
• Proven track record leading small to mid-sized teams (5–25 people), including hiring, performance reviews, and coaching.
• Deep understanding of annotation quality metrics and QA methodologies.
• Must have legal right to work in Rwanda
  
  

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Data/Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Familiarity with commercial annotation tools (e.g., Encord, Segments.ai, Labelbox 3D, Scale AI).
• Experience with Python scripting for annotation-related automation or tooling.
• Proficiency in SQL for data analysis and reporting.
• Background in UAV operations, autonomy research, or logistics.
• Knowledge of best practices in data security and privacy.
  
  

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, 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!