Senior Technical Program Manager

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:

As a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) at Planet, you will drive complex efforts that cross many teams and organizational boundaries. You will provide razor focus to enable execution, manage risk, and are the accountable leader to orchestrate these large-scale, cross-functional efforts. You will work closely with the Constellation Services leadership and team leads to develop and manage end to end program plans and support requirement reviews with external customers to usher projects through the entire project life cycle. This includes establishing and managing internal processes, project schedules, metrics, KPIs, identifying risks, and clearly communicating them to project stakeholders. You're equally at home explaining your team's analyses and recommendations to Constellation Services customers and company executives as you are discussing the technical trade-offs in product development with engineers.

This Senior TPM hire will be a member of the Space Business Group which is responsible for incubating and executing commercial space missions. The group is chartered with realizing the success of the team’s portfolio of commercial space missions by orchestrating activities across Planet’s space, product, and commercial teams. In particular, you will be supporting a Mission Director to formulate, develop, and deploy a new Pelican ground station capability that offers Constellation Services customers best in class latency and tasking control. To that end, you promote collaboration across multi-disciplinary teams including Engineering teams (Space Systems, Software Engineering) and Product Management all in an effort to ensure the assigned program is executed smoothly and on time. You will be expected to act as a core member of the Program Management Team meeting customer requirements and the overall Constellation Services strategy. 

As a key player in commercializing space missions, this role will have the opportunity to apply strategic thinking and influence Planet’s technology development roadmap. This position will provide recommendations to leadership to synthesize and prioritize technology initiatives so that Planet can maximize the return on investment for Planet’s current development obligations.

This is a full-time, hybrid position based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is expected to work in our San Francisco HQ approximately 3 days per week.

Impact You'll Own:

• Lead Constellation Services development initiatives from formulation through operations and sustainment.
• Enhance the quality and viability of the Pelican and Tanager mission lines through delivering new innovative system capabilities
• Bring an understanding of ground segment architecture and work in partnership with the Mission Directors to orchestrate cross-functional efforts primarily in support of advanced tasking capabilities
• Partner with key program stakeholders (Product Manager, Engineering teams, and others) to scope, prioritize, and execute strategic research and development projects to improve operational systems
• Communicate vertically & horizontally across Planet to keep stakeholders informed of technical progress, priorities, risks, and any changes to requirements or plans for both tactical and strategic issues
• Facilitate technical discussions and decisions with a broad team.

What You Bring:

• 6+ years of Technical Program Management or Product Management experience.
• Proven experience in managing/leading cross-functional projects with stakeholders across a broad organization, manage tight timelines a