Software Engineer (Platform, Mission Systems)

Planet; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health plan

Wellness program and massages

Flexible time off

Recognition programs

Commuter benefits

Learning and tuition reimbursement

Parental leave

Offsites and happy hours

Volunteering benefits

Job summary

Planet is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to help operate and evolve Mission Control, a web-based platform that monitors and controls a growing satellite fleet. You will work on distributed microservices handling scheduling, telemetry, and tasking, and collaborate with Satellite Ops, Ground Ops, and Product teams to continuously improve uptime and automation.

You will design, deploy, and maintain cloud infrastructure, evaluate new tech, and contribute to CI/CD pipelines, ensuring scalable and

Qualifications

• 4+ years of relevant work experience.
• Proficient Linux skills.
• Attention to quality including automated testing, code review, and documentation.
• Experience in Python programming.
• Ability to be a self-starter for solving problems in a dynamic environment.
• Experience with maintaining peer‑reviewed code and CI/CD workflows and tooling like GitLab CI and Docker or similar.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or similar.
• Experience maintaining infrastructure with Ansible or similar (e.g., Kubernetes, Terraform).
• Ability to clearly communicate and collaborate with cross‑functional teams.
• Experience with relational database technologies (Postgres, MySQL, etc.).
• Experience building services that leverage cloud-based infrastructure and tooling such as AWS or GCP.
• Experience in API design.
• Experience working with monitoring tools like Datadog, Sentry, or equivalent.
• Experience working in microservice environments.
• Knowledge of aerospace concepts.

Responsibilities

• Resolve a broad array of engineering problems in a dynamic environment.
• Maintain and augment automation and services responsible for operation of Planet’s satellites.
• Manage cloud-based infrastructure services and tooling to meet internal needs and SLAs.
• Evaluate and choose appropriate software technologies.
• Design and deploy critical infrastructure.
• Collaborate with teams across Planet to ensure constellation meets mission needs.

Skills

Linux

Python

CI/CD

Microservices

Cloud infrastructure

Relational databases

APIs

Monitoring tools

Communication

Self-motivation

Cross-functional collaboration

Testing & QA

Documentation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or similar

Tools

GitLab CI

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

PostgreSQL

MySQL

AWS

GCP

API design

Job description

• Planet’s Mission Control is a web-based application that empowers spacecraft operators and analysts to monitor, control, and study our growing fleet of satellites
• It is flanked by a number of distributed microservices that handle spacecraft scheduling, tasking, telemetry processing, and similar operational needs
• Together, these services automate much of the day-to-day operations of Planet’s fleet of satellites
• You’ll be a part of a team that builds, maintains, and operates these tools
• Our mission is to offer a seamless interface that enables spacecraft operators, analysts, and engineers at Planet to interact effortlessly with our assets in space
• We strive to minimize operational burden, and to automate all aspects of satellite operations
• You will be a part of a team that will support, enable and engage with the end users to iterate on these systems
• In this role, you will resolve a broad array of engineering problems in a dynamic environment
• Maintain and augment the automation and services ultimately responsible for the operation of Planet’s satellites. This includes but is not limited to:
• Manage cloud-based infrastructure services, and associated tooling to meet internal needs and support customer-facing service level agreements
• Evaluate and choose appropriate software technologies
• Design and deploy critical infrastructure
• Contribute with a team that values open and honest communication, collaboration, self-learning and initiative to solve problems big and small
• Work closely with various teams across Planet, ranging from Satellite and Ground Operations, to Pipeline and Product teams to ensure the satellite constellation meets all of the needs to achieve Planet’s missions

Benefits

• Comprehensive health plan
• Wellness program and massages
• Flexible time off
• Recognition programs
• Commuter benefits
• Learning and tuition reimbursement
• Parental leave
• Offsites and happy hours
• Volunteering benefits

• 4+ years of relevant work experience
• Proficient Linux skills
• Attention to quality including automated testing, code review, and documentation
• Experience in Python programming
• Ability to be a self-starter for solving problems in a dynamic environment
• Experience with maintaining peer-reviewed code and continuous integration and deployment workflows and tooling like GitLab CI and Docker or similar
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or similar
• Experience maintaining infrastructure with Ansible or similar (eg. Kubernetes, Terraform)
• Ability to clearly communicate and collaborate with cross-functional teams
• Experience with relational database technologies (e.g., Postgres, MySQL, etc.)
• Experience building services that leverage cloud-based infrastructure and tooling such as AWS or GCP
• Experience in API design
• Experience working with monitoring tools like Datadog, Sentry, or equivalent
• Experience working in microservice environments
• Knowledge of aerospace concepts