Principal SW Engineer, Machine Learning Operations

Principal SW Engineer, Machine Learning Operations

Black Sky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. Black Sky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy.

Black Sky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

Black Sky is looking for a talented and creative Principal Software Engineer to support the development, operation, and capability evolution of Spectra AI, Black Sky's cutting-edge AI/ML Platform. As part of the machine learning team, you are instrumental in supporting the automated monitoring mission  will help ensure that Spectra AI produces consistent, reliable, and relevant analytics to Black Sky's growing user base.

This position is a critical element of the Black Sky AI/ML Engineering team and is expected to work collaboratively with internal satellite development teams to ensure success. The ideal candidate has geospatial software engineering, computer vision model deployment, operations, and testing experience; familiarity with satellite imagery or similar datasets; and success working in an agile development environment. Additionally, the ideal candidate has demonstrated the ability to manage their own efforts over a broad scope of work as an independent contributor.

Finally, the candidate should be an independent thinker with the demonstrated ability and willingness to lean in to learn new tools, technologies, and approaches to solve new problems. This role reports to the Manager, Machine Learning Operations.

While the locations listed in the job posting are accepted, we would love candidates near either our Herndon, VA or Seattle, WA offices. We may also consider remote candidates in certain states.

• Design and implement image processing pipelines and software services to assist researchers developing computer vision solutions for next-generation satellite imagery analytics.
• Ensure high-quality and production-ready Python and GO code.
• Take part in the entire project lifecycle from requirements development to deployment.
• Serve as a lead on MLOps software development projects, data ETL projects, and software feature development.
• Collaborate with management and technical team on technical roadmap and implementation strategy.
• Own and architect the vision, strategy, and technical roadmap for Black Sky's machine learning operations platform, ensuring it can scale to support a growing portfolio of advanced AI products.
• Design, build, and operate a robust and automated infrastructure for the entire ML lifecycle, including labeling, ETL, training, deployment, and monitoring.
• Develop and manage processes and tools to improve the velocity of researchers developing next-generation AI for processing satellite imagery and multimodal data.
• Act as a key technical leader, partnering with stakeholders across teams (e.g., computer vision, data, platform) to streamline the path to production and accelerate AI product development timelines.
• Clearly and effectively communicate technical strategy, opportunities, risks, and progress to senior leadership and key stakeholders across the company.
• Mentor and guide other engineers on the team, leveraging your experience to teach others and foster a culture of technical excellence and innovation.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

• Minimum of ten years of hands‑on experience as a software engineer with at least four years focused on geospatial imagery.
• Bachelor's/Master's Degree or higher in one of the following fields: computer science, mathematics, physics,…