How to apply for Senior Software Engineer, Storage Infrastructure

About Planet

Planet builds and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history. It is both a space company and a data company. The work supports commercial, environmental, and humanitarian users who rely on Planet's global Earth-imaging data.

About the role

This role sits on the Storage team, which builds and expands the core object and metadata storage platform behind Planet's data infrastructure. The platform is horizontally scalable and lets other teams focus on their own work. You would help maintain the storage layer that Planet's satellite data products depend on.

A typical day

The job description does not describe a typical day, so this is unknown. Expect to ask about on-call expectations, team structure, and how the Storage team prioritizes work during interviews.

Who Planet is looking for

• Has experience building or scaling distributed object and metadata storage systems.
• Understands horizontally scalable architecture and the tradeoffs involved in designing it.
• Has worked on backend infrastructure that other engineering teams depend on as a platform.
• Is comfortable working remotely and collaborating across time zones, since Planet has employees worldwide.

Tips for this application

• Name specific storage systems or architectures you have built or scaled, such as object stores, metadata stores, or distributed file systems.
• Connect your infrastructure work to data-heavy or large-scale datasets, since Planet's platform handles satellite imagery at global scale.
• State clearly that you are based in Canada and available for a remote role, since the posting is Remote (Canada).
• Reference Planet's dual identity as a space company and a data company, and explain why the storage layer matters for both.
• Check the full job description for the complete requirements, since the text provided here is cut off mid-sentence.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your direct experience with object storage and metadata storage systems at scale.', 'How you have designed or maintained horizontally scalable infrastructure.', 'Why you want to work on the storage platform that underpins Earth-imaging data specifically.', 'Your experience working as a remote engineer on a globally distributed team.']

Research before applying

• Planet's satellite constellation and the types of Earth-imaging data it produces.
• Planet's cloud-based platform and how customers access its data.
• The company's remote-first structure and its offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.
• Any public engineering talks, blog posts, or documentation about Planet's data infrastructure and storage.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How you would design or scale an object and metadata storage platform for large volumes of satellite imagery.
• Tradeoffs between consistency, availability, and durability in distributed storage systems.
• A time you built infrastructure that other engineering teams relied on as a platform.
• How you debug and handle failures in large-scale storage systems.
• How you work with remote, cross-time-zone teams on infrastructure projects.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Sending generic infrastructure experience without naming specific storage systems you have worked on.
• Ignoring the Canada remote requirement or failing to confirm your location.
• Treating this as a generic software engineering role instead of a storage infrastructure role.