Space Systems Engineer, Space Operations

Planet•San Francisco, CA

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

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: The Space Operations team is crucial to Planet's success, responsible for maintaining and optimizing the health and productivity of the world's largest Earth Observation satellite constellation. Our team spans North America and Berlin. Given the scale of our fleet, automation is at the heart of our operations. You'll develop and maintain critical software, transforming large datasets into actionable metrics. As a Space Systems Engineer, you'll support daily satellite operations, analyze data, triage and resolve anomalies, run on-orbit experiments, test and deploy software both on the ground and in orbit, and commission satellites. We are looking for a data-driven self-starter with effective communication skills that collaborates well within a technical team and adapts quickly to changing tasks and contexts. You'll work closely with hardware and software experts across teams to debug anomalies, enhance or create services, and provide operational insights to shape our next-generation satellites. This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our San Francisco office 3 days per week.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or equivalent
2+ years of relevant work experience
Experience in software development, particularly in Python or similar languages
Familiarity with the space environment and its challenges
Data-driven mindset with experience in statistical analysis
Proactive approach to engineering and problem-solving
Effective interpersonal and collaboration skills within a technical team

Nice To Haves

Experience and understanding of spacecraft propulsion and guidance, navigation, and control systems
Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing infrastructures
Experience with Agile software development
Experience in DevOps tools and practices (e.g., Git, GitLab, Docker, Jenkins, Bash, Linux, CI/CD, Sentry, Datadog)
Practical experience in data analysis for problem-solving
Familiarity with automation and optimization tools
Contributions to open-source software projects

Responsibilities

Conduct daily fleet checks and support On-Call shifts
Test and deploy flight software upgrades, debug satellite anomalies, and perform on-orbit experiments
Develop and maintain real-time, mission-critical software solutions for satellite operations
Write scripts to aggregate satellite data and generate system monitoring metrics
Analyze data to identify issues and inefficiencies in the full stack of services and propose solutions
Create and maintain operational procedures
Drive improvements to fleet capacity and productivity through process enhancements
Provide feedback to launch, manufacturing, and spacecraft engineering teams based on on-orbit performance, technical demonstrations, and forecasting models
Shape operational strategies for next-generation spacecraft