Senior Software Engineer

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:  

In addition to our Planetscope constellation, which semi-autonomously creates a near-daily scan of all of Earth’s landmass, we operate satellites that capture high-resolution (SkySat and Pelican) and hyper-spectral (Tanager) data. These are so-called tasked satellites: they take captures in response to specific imaging requests. Our agile and interdisciplinary team builds the systems that make it possible for our customers to order and obtain data from these satellites.

In this role, you will maintain and extend Planet’s Tasking systems, which bridge our customers and many of our internal systems. This means you will be working on systems that externally provide comfortable and reliable interfaces (API & web) for our customers to task and receive our data, and internally act as an integration point between diverse systems (mission control, accounting, imaging processing and quality control). The ideal candidate is positive with a resilient, can-do attitude.

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to be in our Berlin office 3 days per week.

Impact You’ll Own:

• Work closely with product managers and designers to create user-centered products. 
• Realize initiatives through their whole life cycle, from exploration and design over implementation and quality to release and maintenance.
• Continually improve our systems’ architecture, development processes and system design.
• As a part of an on-call duty rotation, you’ll help maintain a high level of quality and service for our customers.

What You Bring:

• Excellent development skills in Python
• Practical experience with Django, Django Rest Framework, and Celery
• Solid background in designing, developing, and maintaining distributed service-oriented systems
• Experience with cloud-native applications deployed on Kubernetes
• Direct experience in developing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines
• Effective English communication skills for cross-functional collaboration
• Experience in making, documenting and communicating architectural decisions
• Ability to drive the implementation of complex features in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and distributed environment

What Makes You Stand Out:

• Advanced knowledge of PostgreSQL and PostGIS
• Experience with geo-spatial data, tooling, and algorithms
• Proficiency with Gitlab pipeline
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform, including Cloud SQL and Pub/Sub
• Experience with monitoring solutions such as  with Prometheus, Grafana, Sentry
• Experience managing infrastructure-as-code with Terraform
• Hands-on experience managing Kubernetes clusters
• Full-stack development experience with React

Application Deadline:

August 24, 2025 by 23:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)

Export Control Requirements:

Planet Labs Germany GmbH is authorized to receive U.S. export-controlled information at Planet under an export license issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security. 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.

• Paid time off including vacation, holidays and company-wide days off 
• Employee Wellness Program 
• Home Office Reimbursement
• Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
• Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
• Equity 
• Volunteering Paid Time Off

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 accommodations@planet.com or contact your recruiter with your request. Your message will be confidential and we will be happy to assist you.

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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.