Senior Data Engineer, GMS Data Team

Planet•Arlington, VA

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

Planet is hiring a Senior Data Engineer for its Data Team within Software Engineering. The role focuses on architecting and evolving data systems that support global monitoring products, including persistent, high-cadence monitoring and active intelligence products for Defense and Intelligence customers. The engineer will own and build production, enterprise-scale data ecosystems using modern cloud technologies to power mission-critical, customer-facing products, partnering with stakeholders to translate complex requirements into scalable solutions. The role encompasses end-to-end data solution design, from high-level architecture and implementation through CI/CD, orchestration, automated QA, and integration into production systems. The Senior Data Engineer will collaborate with Product and Engineering leadership and peers on data strategy, and provide technical mentorship and architectural guidance across the Data Team. This is a full-time hybrid role requiring work from Planet’s Arlington, Virginia office three days per week. Employment is contingent on the candidate being able to access applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing.

Requirements

6–8 years of relevant data engineering work experience, with a track record of technical leadership.
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
Expertise designing and implementing end-to-end data architectures for global-scale, customer-facing solutions, with emphasis 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 mindset and ability to lead problem-solving initiatives in a dynamic, high-stakes environment.
Exceptional communication skills and ability to translate between technical execution and high-level business requirements.
Deep experience maintaining enterprise-grade, peer-reviewed codebases and advanced CI/CD workflows using GitLab CI, Docker, and Kubernetes.
Significant experience with cloud-native architectures.
Ability to access applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with modern data tooling such as dbt for pipeline inputs to customer-facing production systems.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code tooling such as Terraform to manage cloud architecture.
Experience architecting solutions for geospatial datasets.
Knowledge of earth observation and/or satellite operation concepts.
Experience with GCP, which is preferred.

Responsibilities

Architect and oversee robust, high-availability data pipelines.
Establish standards for maintaining, troubleshooting, and optimizing existing data ecosystems.
Collaborate with global product, commercial, and engineering leads and peers to design and execute a long-term data strategy for products in scope.
Provide technical mentorship and conduct technical design reviews across the Data Team.
Maintain architectural integrity and establish code quality standards.
Design and build end-to-end data solutions, including architecture, implementation, CI/CD, orchestration, automated QA, and integration into production systems.
Translate complex stakeholder requirements into robust, scalable data solutions.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans.
Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution.
Generous paid time off, holidays, and company-wide days off.
16 weeks of paid parental leave.
Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Home office reimbursement.
Monthly phone and internet reimbursement.
Tuition reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning.
Equity.
Commuter benefits for employees local to an office.
Paid time off for volunteering.
Potential eligibility for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives (bonus and equity).