Sr. Software Engineer, AI Research

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:

Planet's mission is to image the entire world every day, making global change visible, accessible, and actionable. We've successfully captured daily imagery of the Earth, and now we're taking the next bold step: making this incredibly rich dataset more accessible and actionable through the power of AI.

We are seeking a talented Senior Software Engineer with full stack experience and notable experience with frontend to join our AI Research team and contribute to our vision of creating a “Queryable Earth”. In this role, you will  play a pivotal role in building a groundbreaking, web-based chat application—a "Queryable Earth"—that will democratize access to our vast satellite imagery and analytics. This isn't just about building a chat app; it's about enabling our users to get insights from our vast geospatial database through a natural language interface, and receive instant, AI-powered answers alongside compelling visual evidence.

This is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to accelerate the shift in how geospatial data is consumed by end users. You will work with highly skilled Planeteers working on multi-disciplinary fields  including satellites, space operations, image processing, data pipeline and analytics teams and work to co-develop AI/ML solutions for Planet’s geospatial imagery. If you're passionate about leveraging cutting-edge technology to solve real-world problems, thrive in a collaborative environment, and are excited by the prospect of bringing Earth intelligence to the fingertips of a global audience, we want to hear from you!

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

Impact You'll Own:

• Lead Full Stack Web App Development: Take ownership of the user interface and user experience for our new AI-powered chat application, ensuring a highly intuitive, responsive, and visually engaging experience.
• Build the "Queryable Earth" Chat App: Design, develop, and deploy the core web application, integrating seamlessly with our AI models and data infrastructure.
• Collaborate with AI Researchers: Work closely with our AI Research Team to understand their models and outputs, translating complex analytical results into clear, actionable, and visually rich information for end-users.
• Develop and Integrate Backend Services: Develop robust APIs and integrate the frontend with our scalable backend services, including image retrieval, geospatial analytics, and LLM orchestration.
• Optimize for Performance: Ensure the application delivers fast, reliable performance, handling large datasets and a high volume of user queries efficiently.
• Implement Best Practices: Advocate for and implement best practices in web development, including clean code, testing, security, and accessibility.
• Contribute to Architectural Decisions: Participate in discussions and decisions regarding the overall architecture of the chat application and its integration with Planet's broader platform.

What You Bring:

• 6+ years of experience as a Full Stack Software Engineer, with a focus on modern frontend development (e.g., React, Vue, Angular, or similar frameworks).
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Statistics, or a closely related quantitative field.
• Expertise in JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML, and CSS.
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