Sr. Software Engineer, Compute Infrastructure

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, and The Netherlands.

About the Role:  

Planet’s Compute Team owns the systems used to transform, analyze, and deliver imagery from our constellation of satellites. These systems are primarily responsible for backing external customer access to the continuous feed of imagery we receive from the satellites. This team’s contributions will enable any number of new techniques to understand our changing world.

This role will be responsible for the infrastructure and software making up the cloud computing and delivery layers providing access to imagery for our consumers. Our tech stack consists of Go, Python, PostgreSQL, Google BigTable, and Kubernetes running on Google’s Cloud. At Planet our teams are a blend of pragmatic operators and software craftspeople. Planet is looking for a developer who specializes in large backend data services. Some backend services at Planet are distributed systems and require pragmatic engineering with data-driven decision making. The ideal candidate will be able to apply sound engineering principles, operational discipline, and mature automation to our services. 

The Compute Team is highly distributed and you will thrive in an environment of remote work and asynchronous communication. You're expected to have strong written communication skills and be able to develop working relationships with coworkers in locations across several time zones.

Impact You’ll Own:

• Evolve compute and data delivery services with an emphasis on scale and customer requirements
• Work to enable efficient and rapid access to our variety of new and growing data sets
• Improve reliability and scalability by resolving edge cases, studying failure modes, and writing tests
• Manage underlying persistence layers in PostgreSQL and Google BigTable
• Own the operation of these services by measuring performance, creating alerts, runbooks, and responding to incidents and performance anomalies
• Participate in an on-call rotation in support of our team’s services

What You Bring:

• Experience building services in Go and/or Python. Specific experience with Go is not a hard requirement given strong programming experience in other languages and willingness to learn
• Queuing & database skills with high-concurrency considerations, large datasets
• Experience building services that leverage cloud-based infrastructure and tooling such as AWS or GCP
• Experience with a large shared codebase and continuous integration and deployment workflows and tooling like GitLab CI and Docker or similar
• Have maintained infrastructure with Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible or similar
• Have a deep understanding of the Linux operating system
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, written and oral

What Makes You Stand Out:

• Experience working with monitoring tools like Prometheus, InfluxDB, or equivalent
• Experience working with geospatial data and concepts
• Have managed networking of a high traffic (thousands to tens of thousands reqs/sec) service using technologies like nginx, Envoy, or HAProxy

Benefits While Working at Planet:

• Comprehensive Health Plan
• Wellness program and onsite massages in specific offices
• Flexible Time Off
• Recognition Programs
• Commuter Benefits
• Learning and Tuition Reimbursement
• Parental Leave
• Offsites and Happy Hours
• Volunteering Benefits

Some Press About Us: 

Our CEO, Will Marshall featured on TED and featured in a Planet Blog

“Planet: Bringing Space Back Down to Earth”

Tiny, privately owned satellites are changing how we view the Earth features in NBC News

“Planet And Rocket Lab Create Mission Patch To Honor Women In Aerospace” —Planet Blog

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 with diversity, equity and inclusion.  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. 

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 interview process, please call Planet's front office at 669-214-9404 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.

Compensation (only applicable for Colorado applicants):

The base pay range targeted for this position in Colorado is: $116,100 - $187,200. This role is eligible for equity.

The actual offer, including the compensation package, is determined based on multiple factors, including experience, location, and other business considerations.

Planet is registered as an employer in many, but not all, states. If you are not able to work from a state where Planet is registered, you will not be eligible for employment.