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Vice President Defense and Intelligence Engineering

Planet

Skills

Required

  • Software Engineering
  • platform
  • Machine Learning
  • Data Science
  • systems architecture
  • data / computer vision / geospatial applications
  • domain awareness / automated change detection / spatial monitoring platforms
  • ML
  • cloud infrastructure

Preferred

  • multi-sensor data fusion workflows
  • optical satellite imagery
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar
  • SAR
  • systems development
  • software build pipelines
  • data handling
  • distributed cloud architectures

Join Planet, a leading provider of satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. As the Vice President of Defense and Intelligence Solutions Engineering, you will lead the software engineering organization responsible for building Planet's end-to-end dual-use products and applications. You will oversee technical architecture, systems development, and operational delivery of flagship products, and partner with Product Management, Core Platform Engineering, and Executive Leadership. Ideal candidates are visionary engineering leaders with a passion for delivering impactful geospatial solutions.

Lead and direct the software engineering organization responsible for building end-to-end dual-use products and applications.

Partner with Product Management and Executive Leadership to transform raw satellite imagery and API services into scalable, mission-critical software solutions.

Responsibilities

  • Oversee the technical architecture, systems development, and operational delivery of flagship dual-use products, ensuring compliance with regulations.
  • Direct experience managing engineering teams, software build pipelines, and data handling governed by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
  • Deep technical expertise in distributed cloud architectures, high-throughput data processing pipelines, API infrastructure, and machine learning model integration
  • Ability to drive software delivery metrics, maintain high operational availability/SLAs, and establish rigorous engineering practices
  • Direct engineering experience building foundation models for remote sensing use cases, agentic platforms, or automated tip-and-cue execution loops

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
  • 15+ years of experience in software engineering and systems architecture, with a focus on high-scale data, computer vision, or geospatial applications
  • Active high-level government security clearance, or eligibility to obtain top-secret clearance upon hire
  • Track record of architecting, building, and operating end-to-end dual-use or defense software applications (such as domain awareness, automated change detection, or spatial monitoring platforms) at scale
  • 8+ years of direct experience leading and scaling multi-disciplinary engineering organizations (software, data/ML, platform, and cloud infrastructure)
  • If this job intrigues you, but you’re thinking you might not have all the qualifications, please... do apply
  • Background in developing software for secure government environments, air-gapped systems, or sovereign cloud deployments (e.g., AWS GovCloud/C2S)
  • Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Machine Learning, or a relevant technical discipline

Preferred

  • Experience in multi-sensor data fusion workflows, including optical satellite imagery and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

Pay

USD 293,000 - 366,300

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