Software Engineer, Applied Genai Apps - AI Geospatial Assistant Team

Software Engineer, Applied GenAI Apps - AI Geospatial Assistant Team

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 worldwide and joining us from offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.

About the Role:

Planet's mission is to image the entire world every day, making global change visible, accessible, and actionable. We are at a critical inflection point: moving from broad AI research to a delivery-focused "productization" model. To drive this, we are building a new product group focused on launching an AI Geospatial Assistant that transforms how our customers interact with global imagery to solve high-stakes problems in forensics and daily change detection.

Our goal is to make these complex insights accessible through an intuitive interface that requires zero user training. Operating with a zero-to-one startup mindset, this team prioritizes weekly learning velocity and customer-driven graduation criteria to move rapidly from private alpha to general availability.

While AI has enabled software engineers to more easily flex into traditional practice areas like front and back end we would like this role to be more focused on front end than not. You will work with a design lead to be an advocate for the user experience. You will solve the critical "Map-Text Disconnect" by making our global imagery an active, interactive participant in the AI conversation. Your work ensures that natural language insights are always anchored by visual evidence, transforming the solutions into a trusted, intuitive, and "wow"-inducing problem-solving tool for experts and novices alike.

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our San Francisco office 3 days per week.

Impact You'll Own:

• Lead Full Stack AI 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.
• Collaborate with AI Researchers: Work closely with our AI Research Team to understand their models, workflows, outputs, and emerging capabilities translating complex analytical results into clear, actionable, and visually rich information for end-users.
• Implement "Interface Advantages": Develop a side-by-side map and chat layout that lowers the barrier to entry for novices while providing deep analytics for GIS experts.
• Build Trust through Transparency: Integrate visible branding, data badges, and clickable citations to verify that AI-generated answers are grounded in real Planet imagery.
• Develop Dynamic Visualizations: Create exportable "before and after" graphics, charts, and time-series animations that translate AI insights into actionable evidence.
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and deploying applications in a cloud environment.
• Optimize Performance: Ensure that "slippy map" transitions and high-resolution satellite imagery loading remain performant and seamless, even when handling complex data overlays under high user demand.
• Engineer Fluid AI Interactions: Architect sophisticated frontend/backend communication patterns (eg. through use of web sockets) to manage high-latency AI operations. You will ensure the UI remains "alive" and transparent by implementing real-time agent status updates, streaming text responses, and progressive data rendering.
• State Management for Multi-modal Conversations.

What You Bring:

• 4+ years of experience as a Full Stack or Frontend Engineer, with expertise in modern frameworks like React or Vue.
• Bachelor's Degree in computer science or equivalent field.
• Enthusiasm for working in an AI forward development flow. You naturally integrate AI-assisted tools into your workflow to drive your own productivity and enjoy being part of a team that treats AI as a core collaborator in the development lifecycle.
• Proficiency of mapping libraries such as Mapbox GL JS or Leaflet.
• Experience building streaming UI/UX for LLMs and LLM chat interfaces into production-grade web applications.
• Deep empathy for UI/UX principles, focused on democratizing access to complex satellite data for non-technical users.

What Makes You Stand Out:

• Experience designing dual-mode interfaces (e.g., "Explore" vs. "Analyze") to cater to different user intents.
• Prior experience in geospatial visualization for investigative journalism, government compliance, or environmental monitoring.
• Prior experience working with AI/ML teams or integrating AI models into production applications, especially chat interfaces and agentic workflows
• Strong experience with data visualization tools like D3.js or Plotly.
• Experience with "Human-in-the-loop" (HITL) UI design.

Application Deadline:

June 4, 2026 at 11:59p PT

Benefits While Working at Planet:

These offerings are dependent on employment type and geographical location, based upon applicable law or company policy.

• 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

Compensation:

The US base salary range for this full-time position at the commencement of employment is listed below. 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.

San Francisco Salary Range

$144,500 - $180,600 USD