Senior Director of Engineering - Civil Government and Commercial

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: We are seeking an experienced engineering leader to become our Senior Director of Engineering for Civil Government and Commercial. In this role, you will lead the engineering strategy, execution, and team development for a rapidly growing organization of 70+ engineers spanning multiple global Planet offices. You will oversee the development, scaling, and delivery of our critical existing solutions, including Area Monitoring Service (AMS) for EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) compliance, Disaster and Wildfire solutions, Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE), and a portfolio of Derived Data Products. You will also drive our "zero to one" product discovery, partnering closely with Product Management, Design, and Science teams to incubate, architect, and launch new, emerging solutions built on top of Planet’s high-frequency imagery and derived data products. AI is central to how Planet builds solutions, and you will make it a primary way your teams discover, build, and deliver for customers. This position is vital to delivering innovative applications to civil governments and commercial customers worldwide. This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our Berlin, Haarlem, or Ljubljana office 3 days per week. Impact You’ll Own: • Lead, mentor, and scale a global engineering organization of 70+ engineers, managers, and directors across multiple geographies and time zones. • Set a high bar for performance and accountability. Define measurable outcomes for every product and team, surface risks early and directly, and make the hard calls on people and priorities when results fall short. • Drive the day-to-day engineering execution and delivery for existing flagship products, ensuring reliability and performance for AMS, Disaster and Wildfire solutions, and the derived data portfolio. • Champion and lead "zero to one" engineering discovery, building the technical foundation and prototypes for new emerging commercial and civil government products. • Partner on a daily basis with Product Management, Design, and GTM teams to define product direction, prioritize feature development, and align technical strategy with business goals. • Ensure systems are scalable, reliable, and secure for government and enterprise use, guiding architectural decisions and engineering best practices. • Align your team's daily output with Planet’s mission of using space to help life on earth, directly enabling governments and businesses to make critical, timely decisions. What You Bring: • 10+ years of relevant software engineering