Welcome to Planet. We believe in using space to help life on Earth.
Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history. This constellation delivers an unprecedented dataset of empirical information via a revolutionary cloud-based platform to authoritative figures in commercial, environmental, and humanitarian sectors. We are both a space company and data company all rolled into one.
Customers and users across the globe use Planet's data to develop new technologies, drive revenue, power research, and solve our world’s toughest obstacles.
As we control every component of hardware design, manufacturing, data processing, and software engineering, our office is a truly inspiring mix of experts from a variety of domains.
We have a people-centric approach toward culture and community and we strive to iterate in a way that puts our team members first and prepares our company for growth. Join Planet and be a part of our mission to change the way people see the world.
Planet is a global company with employees working remotely world wide and joining us from offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.
About the Role:
Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history. This constellation delivers an unprecedented dataset of empirical information via a revolutionary cloud-based platform to authoritative figures in commercial, environmental, and humanitarian sectors. We are both a space company and data company rolled into one.
Customers and users across the globe use Planet's data to develop new technologies, drive revenue, power research, and solve our world’s toughest obstacles.
The High Resolution Pipeline team supports Planet’s Pelican and SkySat satellite constellations. The team owns the SkySat and Pelican ground processing pipeline from downlink to customer workflows. The work of the High Resolution team is performed at scale and affects millions of images and terabytes of data. The team is looking for a skilled software engineer with understanding of high performance computing and interest in earth observation to ensure top data quality and latency goals to best support our customers. Ideal candidates will have a passion for photography, remote sensing, earth sciences, and/or geography, while exhibiting personal commitments to quality, best practices, and security. You will also have a willingness to learn various Python-based computing frameworks.
This is a full-time, remote position based in the United States. If located near an office, you are expected to work from that office 3 days per week.
Impact You'll Own:
- Drive continuous improvements in the quality and latency of Planet's high resolution data products and pipeline processes
- Work cross functionally across Space Systems and with our Data Quality Experts to optimize the implementation of image algorithms in Planet’s Python/Linux-based production environment
- Support the monitoring of scientific fidelity by implementing and reviewing data quality metrics
- Troubleshoot data quality issues and implement software fixes to resolve them
- Participate in on-call rotation to ensure operational excellence across pipelines
- Build and optimize algorithms in the low latency software for the Pelican Pipeline imagery processing system
What You Bring:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering or similar
- 2+ years of relevant experience.
- Experience with sound software engineering practices, (e.g. testing, CI/CD, GitOps, Jenkins, object-oriented programming, etc.)
- Experience building production-grade services with modern Python
- Experience with Ray or other Python-based distributed computing frameworks such as Dask, Flink, and PySpark
- Exposure to containerization technologies such as Kubernetes and Docker
- Experience building low latency data processing chains
- Ability to collaborate with team members and conduct code and test reviews
- Ability to collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering Management, and engineering teams on system design and roadmapping for scalable and robust solutions
- Experience working with Jira task management and progress tracking
What Makes You Stand Out:
- Exposure to geospatial raster data processing with tools such as GDAL and NumPy
- Exposure to parallelization techniques such as threading, multi-processing, and distributed workloads
- Experience building and deploying Kubernetes based services
- Experience with CUDA-based GPU programs.
Application Deadline: December 16, 11:59PM PST
EAR/ITAR Requirements:
This position requires access to export-controlled information, and as such, employment (or hiring of a contractor) is contingent upon the candidate’s ability to access all applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required by the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
Benefits While Working at Planet:
These offerings are dependent on employment type and geographical location, based upon applicable law or company policy.
- Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
- Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution
- Generous Paid Time Off in addition to holidays and company-wide days off
- 16 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave
- Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Home Office Reimbursement
- Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
- Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
- Equity
- Commuter Benefits (if local to an office)
- Volunteering Paid Time Off
Compensation:
The US base salary range for this full-time position at the commencement of employment is listed below. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives (bonus and equity). The final salary range is determined by job related experience, skills and location. The range displays our typical hiring range for new hire salaries in US locations only. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
Why we care so much about Belonging.
We’re dedicated to helping the whole Planet, and to do that we must strive to represent all of it within each of our offices and on all of our teams. That’s why Planet is guided by an ultimate north star of Belonging—dreaming big as we approach our ongoing work. If this job intrigues you, but you’re thinking you might not have all the qualifications, please... do apply! At Planet, we are looking for well-rounded people from around the world who can contribute to more ways than just what is listed in this job description. We don’t just fill positions, we aspire to fulfill people’s careers, most excited about folks who are motivated by our underlying humanitarian efforts. We are a few orbits around the sun before we get to where we want to be, so we hope you’re excited to come along for the ride.
EEO statement:
Planet is committed to building a community where everyone belongs and we invite people from all backgrounds to apply. Planet is an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Know Your Rights.
Accommodations:
Planet is an inclusive community and we know that everyone has their own needs. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation during the hiring process, please reach out to [email protected] or contact your recruiter with your request. Your message will be confidential and we will be happy to assist you.
Privacy Policy: By clicking "Apply Now" at the top of this job posting, I acknowledge that I have read the Planet Data Privacy Notice for California Staff Members and Applicants, and hereby consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of my personal information as described therein.
Privacy Policy (European Applicants): By clicking "Apply Now" at the top of this job posting, I acknowledge that I have read the Candidate Privacy Notice GDPR Planet Labs Europe, and hereby consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of my personal information as described therein.
Top Skills
What We Do
You can’t fix what you can’t see. Planet believes in using space to help life on Earth. We design, build, and operate a constellation of earth-imaging satellites that deliver a dataset of geospatial imagery used to help solve the worlds most critical problems. Planet is passionate about building a community of diversity, belonging and inclusion.
Why Work With Us
Do you want to be a part of a mission-driven agile aerospace company? Planet’s team is an inspiring mix of experts from a variety of domains, who control every component of hardware design, satellite manufacturing, image processing, and software engineering. We strive to put our team members first and foster empowering careers in space technology.
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