About the position
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.
Responsibilities
- 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.
Requirements
- 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.
- Experience building and deploying robust, scalable web applications end to end including API development, cloud deployment, and scaled data processing workflows.
- Familiarity with backend technologies (e.g., Python, Node.js, Go) and experience with RESTful APIs and database interactions.
- Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and deploying applications in a cloud environment.
- Excellent understanding of UI/UX principles and a keen eye for design and user experience.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
Nice-to-haves
- Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Statistics, or a closely related quantitative field.
- Experience with geospatial data, mapping libraries (e.g., Leaflet, Mapbox GL JS), or satellite imagery.
- Familiarity with data visualization libraries (e.g., D3.js, Plotly).
- Prior experience working with AI/ML teams or integrating AI models into production applications, especially chat interfaces and agentic workflows.
Benefits
- Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
- Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution
- Generous Paid Time Off in addition to 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 (if local to an office)
- Volunteering Paid Time Off
