Senior Data 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 a 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 worldwide and joining us from offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.

As a Senior Data Engineer at Planet, you will own, architect and build production, enterprise‑scale data ecosystems using modern cloud technologies to power mission‑critical, customer‑facing products. You will act as a strategic partner to cross‑functional stakeholders, translating complex requirements into robust, scalable solutions. You will build and design data solutions end to end: from high‑level architecture and implementation to CI/CD, orchestration, automated QA, and seamless integration into production systems.

You’ll be a senior member of the Data Team within the Software Engineering organization, which is made up of data scientists, engineers, and analysts working on similar tasks across Planet domains.

Your scope will focus on the architecture and evolution of data systems supporting our global monitoring products. These products are vital offerings designed to provide persistent, high‑cadence monitoring and active intelligence, particularly for our Defence and Intelligence customers. You will collaborate closely with leadership across Product and Engineering to ensure some of our most sophisticated customers have the data required for global security and rapid decision‑making.

This role is ideal for an expert data engineer looking to lead the evolution of complex systems and deliver transformative technology to the defense sector. The ideal candidate is an independent operator who thrives in a dynamic, global environment and is deeply passionate about Planet’s mission and national security solutions.

This is a full‑time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our Washington DC or Denver CO office 3 days per week.

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.

• Architect and oversee robust, high‑availability data pipelines while establishing the standards for maintaining, troubleshooting, and optimizing existing ecosystems.
• Collaborate with global product, commercial and engineering leads and peers to design and execute a long‑term data strategy for products in your scope.
• Drive high‑level mentorship, technical design reviews, and architectural integrity across the Data Team while setting standards for code quality.

• 10+ years of relevant experience in data engineering with a track record of technical leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• Expertise in designing and implementing end‑to‑end data architectures for global‑scale, customer‑facing solutions, with a focus on data integrity and efficiency.
• Expert‑level proficiency in Python and SQL for complex ETL/ELT pipeline construction, including event‑driven data architectures.
• Proactive, self‑starter…