Senior Director of Engineering - Civil Government and Commercial
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 work experience, including 8+ years of supervisory or leadership experience managing multiple layers of engineering management.
Experience leading and scaling distributed engineering teams of 50+ employees across multiple geographic locations and time zones.
Hands-on engagement with AI tools in your own work, and experience leading engineering teams through AI adoption.
Track record of "zero to one" product development, including the technical discovery, architecture, and successful launch of new software solutions.
Background in building and delivering geospatial platforms, data analytics solutions, or enterprise SaaS products.
Experience delivering tailored solutions to individual customers, meeting or exceeding their expectations and integrating new building blocks back into the solution commons.
A growth mindset. You experiment, learn quickly, and change course when the evidence says to.
Ability to collaborate with cross-functional partners to translate complex business and user requirements into actionable technical roadmaps.
Experience overseeing operational reliability, cloud infrastructure, and software deployment lifecycles for enterprise-grade applications.
Ability to drive software delivery metrics, maintain high operational availability/SLAs, and foster rigorous engineering practices.
Ability to recruit, mentor, and retain engineering talent at all levels while fostering an inclusive team culture.
Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills for engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
What Makes You Stand Out:
Success building large scale civil government solutions leveraging forward deployed engineering.
Familiarity with the unique regulatory, compliance, and security requirements of government technology solutions globally.
Experience building sovereign systems for governments.
Application Deadline:
11:45p / 23:45 CET on the date stated below. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. This posting may be removed earlier than projected if a suitable pool of applications has been received. For this reason, we recommend applying as soon as you are able to.
Benefits While Working at Planet:
These offerings are dependent on employment type and geographical location, based upon applicable law or company policy.
Paid time off including vacation, holidays and company-wide days off
Employee Wellness Program
Home Office Reimbursement
Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
Equity
Volunteering Paid Time Off
Compensation:
The expected starting gross salary range for this role is listed below. Individual placement within this range is determined objectively based on gender-neutral criteria such as your skills, qualifications, and professional experience. This position may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses and/or equity.
Germany Salary Range
€123.300—€154.100 EUR
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