How to apply for Senior Site Reliability Engineer

About Planet

Planet operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history. The company combines hardware design, manufacturing, data processing, and software engineering to deliver global Earth-imaging data through a cloud-based platform. Employees work remotely worldwide or from offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.

About the role

As a senior site reliability engineer, you will keep the cloud-based platform that delivers satellite data reliable and scalable. You will work at the intersection of data processing and software engineering, supporting systems that serve commercial, environmental, and humanitarian users. This role directly affects how quickly and reliably customers access Planet's imagery.

A typical day

A typical day might involve reviewing alerts from data processing pipelines, automating recovery steps for cloud infrastructure, and working with engineers to improve system resilience. You could also spend time planning capacity for upcoming satellite data volumes or documenting incident responses. Since the team is global, some meetings may fall outside standard local hours.

Who Planet is looking for

• Experience running large-scale, distributed cloud systems in production.
• Background in automating infrastructure and building observability into data pipelines.
• Comfort working with hardware-generated data streams and satellite imagery workflows.
• Ability to collaborate with software and hardware engineers across time zones.

Tips for this application

• Highlight any experience with satellite data, geospatial pipelines, or high-volume image processing in your resume.
• Mention specific cloud providers and tools you have used to manage reliability for data-intensive applications.
• Reference Planet's constellation and cloud platform in your application to show you understand the scale of their operations.
• Note your time zone and remote work setup, since this role is remote in Canada and the team is globally distributed.
• If you have worked on systems that handle continuous data streams from hardware, describe that work in detail.

What to cover in your cover letter

Explain how your reliability engineering work has supported data-heavy or hardware-driven systems. Describe a time you improved uptime or performance for a cloud platform. Show that you understand Planet's dual nature as a space and data company. State why you want to work remotely for a globally distributed team.

Research before applying

• Planet's satellite constellation size and the types of imagery it captures.
• The architecture of Planet's cloud-based platform and how data is delivered to customers.
• Planet's customer base in commercial, environmental, and humanitarian sectors.
• The company's remote work policies and office locations to understand team distribution.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How you would monitor and maintain reliability for a satellite data pipeline.
• Your approach to incident response when hardware and software failures intersect.
• Specific tools and practices you use for infrastructure as code and automated recovery.
• How you handle capacity planning for unpredictable data volumes from satellite passes.
• Examples of cross-time-zone collaboration with software and hardware engineers.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying without mentioning any experience with data-intensive or hardware-generated systems.
• Ignoring the remote and globally distributed nature of the team in your application.
• Using generic reliability engineering language without connecting it to satellite data or Earth imaging.