Working Student, Space Operations
Confirmed live in the last 24 hours
Planet Labs
Job Description
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:
Have you ever wanted to command a satellite in space? How about hundreds?
Our team is in charge of maintaining the largest constellation of Earth observation satellites safe, healthy, and productive. We do so with a small team of highly-skilled engineers from our offices in SF and Berlin and we are currently looking for a highly motivated and proactive working student to join our operations team.
Your mission will be to support day-to-day ops, which includes making assessments based on data analysis, triage and resolve anomalies, run on-orbit experiments, test and roll out software on the ground and in space.
With hundreds of active satellites, the core of our operations is automation, so you will be writing code to automate mission operations and aggregate data into metrics.
The ideal candidate is a self-starter, quick learner, good communicator, and has the ability to switch contexts quickly. You will be working in a close collaborative environment, frequently communicating with hardware and software experts to understand anomalies, develop procedures and shape the way we do operations. Expect to be in the middle of it all, as the work of the Space Operations team is essential to Planet’s success.
This is a part-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our Berlin office 2 days per week.
Impact You’ll Own:
- Develop and enhance existing tools to automate operations
- Perform daily checks on the fleet
- Identify, triage, root cause and resolve satellite anomalies in space
- Develop and maintain scripts to aggregate satellite data and generate metrics
- Use existing and new metrics for data analysis to make assessments about the performance and health of the satellites
- Proactively improve existing processes
- Lead your own standalone projects to shape the way we operate our satellites
What You Bring:
- Ongoing Bachelor's Degree in an Engineering, Software, or Science related field from an accredited college or technical school
- Software development experience in Python or equivalent
- Passion for space technology and its applications
- Self-starter that proactively tackles problems and brings in their own ideas
- Data-driven mindset and comfort with statistical analysis
- Team player with outstanding communication and collaboration skills
What Makes You Stand Out:
- Familiar with automation and software development tools (i.e. Jenkins, Bash, Git)
- Understanding of DevOps and CI/CD concepts
- Experience working with large amounts of data and APIs
- Understanding of space environment and space operations
- Understanding of and motivation to work in an agile environment
Export Control Requirements:
Planet Labs Germany GmbH is authorized to receive U.S. expo
