Senior Engineering Manager, Machine Learning
Planet Labs
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, and The Netherlands.
About the Role:
Planet is looking for a Senior Engineering Manager with a proven background in guiding and mentoring high-performing engineering teams.
In this role, you will be responsible for an engineering team delivering novel machine learning powered products for both external customers and internal use. The team designs the algorithms, integrates these into production systems and maintains them via ML operations (MLOps). For example, the team has developed Road and Building monitoring products based upon our satellite imagery, including global weekly mapping and change detection. They have also built the inference systems that generate cloud masks of all images produced by Planet. The core algorithms that have been developed typically use a combination of computer vision (DL & non-DL) and time series, all cemented in statistical and physical principles. Additionally, the team takes ML models from external partners and integrates them into our systems so that their output can be offered to Planet’s customers.
This is very much a “servant leadership” role, with a high emphasis on enabling your team members to do their best work in an environment that sets them up for success. In particular, you’ll ensure engineers are unblocked on dependencies, take the lead in defining the “what” and “why” of the team’s work, and organize that work in a way that best aligns with organizational and team practices.
The team has a highly collaborative culture and is distributed remotely across USA and Canada.
Impact You’ll Own:
- Guide your team of machine learning engineers to deliver successful ML products
- Mentor, coach and unblock your team members, helping them succeed and grow their careers
- Ensure efficient shipping of product improvements and features
- Partner with your product management counterpart to take strategic and tactical decisions
- Define and implement team processes, including for task planning, code reviews and on-call rotations
- Establish sound engineering practices to build software and design training & inference pipelines
- Collaborate across our engineering organization and other cross functional teams to align efforts
What You Bring:
- Proven experience in delivering data-intensive software products at scale
- 4+ years of experience as a manager, with ability to build, retain, and grow diverse, geographically dispersed teams.
- Solid understanding of fundamentals in software engineering, statistics and machine learning
- Demonstrated success in establishing and evolving operational practices in a software engineering organization
- Experience owning and maintaining ML models in production
- Experience with distributed cloud computing
- Excellent interpersonal skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to explain complex technical issues accurately to technical and non-technical audiences
What Makes You Stand Out:
- Experience building products using sensor or geospatial data
- Experience in remote sensing or related fields
Benefits While Working at Planet:
- Comprehensive Health Plan
- Wellness program and onsite massages in specific offices
- Flexible Time Off
- Recognition Programs
- Commuter Benefits
- Learning and Tuition Reimbursement
- Parental Leave
- Offsites and Happy Hours
- Volunteering Benefits
Compensation:
The US base salary range for this full-time position at the commencement of employment is $124,000 - $203,000. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives (bonus and equity). The final salary range is determined by job related experience, skills and location. The range displays our typical hiring range for new hire salaries in US locations only. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
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Why we care so much about Belonging.
We’re dedicated to helping the whole Planet, and to do that we must strive to represent all of it within each of our offices and on all of our teams. That’s why Planet is guided by an ultimate north star of Belonging, dreaming big as we approach our ongoing work with diversity, equity and inclusion. If this job intrigues you, but you’re thinking you might not have all the qualifications, please... do apply! At Planet, we are looking for well-rounded people from around the world who can contribute to more ways than just what is listed in this job description. We don’t just fill positions, we aspire to fulfill people’s careers, most excited about folks who are motivated by our underlying humanitarian efforts. We are a few orbits around the sun before we get to where we want to be, so we hope you’re excited to come along for the ride.
EEO statement:
Planet is committed to building a community where everyone belongs and we invite people from all backgrounds to apply. Planet is an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Accommodations:
Planet is an inclusive community and we know that everyone has their own needs. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation during the interview process, please call Planet's front office at 669-214-9404 or contact your recruiter with your request. Your message will be confidential and we will be happy to assist you.
