Director of Software Engineering

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:

As the Director of Software Engineering, Analytics, you will lead, staff, and scale the engineering organization that builds Planet’s analytics: the models and pipelines that turn daily satellite imagery into answers about what changed at a site, what is moving in a port, and what is being built across a country. These analytics power Planet’s dual-use products such as Global Monitoring Service (GMS) and Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) for defense use cases, and are expanding into commercial and civil government use through the same models and platform.

You will lead engineering managers and engineers across Denver, Washington DC, remote North America, and Europe. You will be responsible for building the team, the plan, the delivery, and the operating model and will report to the VP of Technology. This is a build role: the organization is moving from hand-built detectors to foundation-model-based methods, scaling from hundreds of monitored sites to thousands, and operating across classified and unclassified environments.

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our Denver or Washington DC office 3 days per week. This role requires US person status and the ability to obtain and hold a US government security clearance.

Impact You'll Own:

• Engineering Leadership & Staffing: Develop and execute a talent strategy supporting our product roadmap. Build a staffing plan and develop, recruit, and hire talent accordingly. Manage performance directly and build bench depth to limit single points of failure.