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Salary: USD 160,600 - 200,800 / annual
Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history, delivering empirical geospatial data via a cloud-based platform to commercial, environmental, and humanitarian sectors. This role is a Senior Software Engineer focused on developing transformative solutions for strategic defense and security customers.
You will work as a senior technical contributor and hands-on builder within a collaborative engineering team, acting as a bridge between key defense partners and Planet's engineering organization. Your mission is to tackle complex, mission-critical customer challenges by building high-impact software solutions. You will have high autonomy to design and build what is needed, turning ambiguous requirements into functional and reliable software that directly contributes to critical customer commitments and informs future product development.
Key responsibilities include:
- Spearhead the full development lifecycle from discovery and decomposition to designing, building, and deploying bespoke solutions for customer challenges
- Develop robust, full-stack software including front-end, back-end, data integration, cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP), and CI/CD pipelines
- Collaborate directly with customers to understand operational challenges and translate them into technical requirements
- Analyze customer solutions to identify reusable patterns that inform broader platform development
- Leverage AI tooling and an AI-first mindset to drive rapid iteration and deliver value quickly
- Mentor team members, conduct code reviews, and foster a collaborative engineering culture
- Execute critical commitments on time to support key customer relationships and business goals
- Travel 30-50% to customer sites within the region
This is a full-time, hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in the Arlington, VA office.
Requirements:
- 6+ years of relevant work experience in software engineering or equivalent technical role
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
- Experience with geospatial software development and concepts (Rasterio, Fiona, Shapely, OpenLayers, GDAL)
- AWS or GCP experience
- Proficiency in Python
- Knowledge of software engineering best practices including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, and testing methodologies
- Ability to effectively communicate complex technical concepts to diverse internal and external stakeholders
- Experience with fast, iterative development cycles and ability to adapt to shifting requirements
- Current active security clearance (TS or TS/TSI) required
- Must be able to access export-controlled information without additional export licensing
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with JavaScript, Java, Go, or C#
- Experience working with defense and security customer domains
