Software Engineer - Data Stores (Senior to Staff Level)

About Insight M
At Insight M, we combine innovative aerospace systems with advanced data science. Unlike traditional aerospace companies, we sell information, not hardware - we operate our sensors cost-effectively at continental scale to produce novel data streams about pressing global problems. First on our list: spotting hard-to-monitor emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change. Since starting continuous survey operations in 2018, Insight M has removed methane emissions equal to over 250 million tonnes of CO2e through our work. To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to over 60 million cars being removed from the roads or shutting down about one hundred and sixty 350 MW coal-fired power plants for a year. That's like planting 4.2 billion urban trees and letting them grow for 10 years. We call that a good start. As a team, we love science and engineering, we love getting our hands dirty with hardware and software, and we love seeing our work make a difference in the real world. We’ve created a diverse, collaborative, supportive, and fun environment based on integrity and treating people right. So no matter your sex, gender, sexual identity, gender identity, race, age, beliefs, sexual orientation, or disabilities, we welcome you and would like to work with you. :-) It’s never boring, it’s always challenging, and we’re usually laughing.
A note of encouragement: If you don't meet 100% of the qualifications below, you should still seriously consider applying. Studies show that you can still be considered for a role if you meet just 50% of the role's requirements.
Individuals with a disability are encouraged to contact [interview.accommodations@insightm.com] to request assistance with your application and accommodations in advance of your interview. 

Software Engineering at Insight M
Everything that Insight M does is driven by software, from recording sensor data while flying at 6000', to ephemeral high-scale cloud-native data processing, to computer-aided GIS analysis, to using machine-learning to extract structured information from geopixels. The software engineering team is involved in every step of our process, building the automation that allows Insight M to not only image things that humans have never seen before but to do it reliably, repeatedly, inexpensively, and quickly. (Yes, you can have all four). We work primarily in Python, with a smattering of Bash, SQL, Terraform, and Typescript when it makes sense.
We work on single-board-computers, field laptops, in virtualized cloud environments, in containers, inside of web browsers, and even inside lab automation frameworks. We practice compositional engineering, tying together disparate pieces of technology to create novel artifacts that solve real-world problems. We practice continuous integration and deployment, automated testing, and have a growing monorepo.
Salary Range
Nationwide Range for Senior to Staff Level$120,600 - $233,000 base USD/year + bonus + equity + 401k (no match)
To avoid bias and create an equitable salary structure, we are intentional about our pay strategy at Insight M. We base compensation on the current position (role and skill level) and location. Since many of our roles are remote, we create a national range for our open positions built to cover both low and high-cost-of-living locations. If you live in a low-cost area, the location-specific range will fall towards the lower end of the nationwide range. If you live in a high-cost-of-living area, the location-specific range will be on the higher end of the nationwide range. 

Responsibilities

• Ensure our large PostgreSQL/PostGIS database cluster is operating reliably and efficiently.
• Ensure application developers and data analysts are well prepared to make effective use of our databases and data stores.
• Analyze and optimize our data access patterns and storage.
• Effectively represent the systems perspective in collaborations on managing our data lifecycle.
• Design/Architect new datastore and analytics solutions, opening up new avenues of data analysis potential.

Required

• A detailed understanding of how modern SQL and NoSQL databases work and their tradeoffs, including query execution, storage, and communication.
• A software development background, ideally in Python.
• Knowledge of database security best practices.
• Experience analyzing and optimizing database schemas, queries, and supporting platforms.
• Experience with PostgreSQL PostGIS queries and schemas.
• Experience working with SQL, ORMs, and other means of database access.
• Experience operating scalable, reliable database management systems in the cloud.
• Ability to offer other developers expert consultations on database issues as well as directly address database issues yourself.
• The ability to learn quickly in a self-guided manner - much of what we do is solving new problems by integrating one or more pieces of new technology.
• A desire to solve real-world problems over working on technical problems in isolation - none of our work fits in neat boxes.  Instead, we have a team that is focused on the impact our work can have on the future of life on the planet and prioritizes real-world progress over problem-focus purity.
• A belief in modern development practices - we do things like code reviews, unit testing, minimal-viable products, and fast development iteration. We eschew the zealous practice of any development-process religion, but we do pick and choose techniques that help us write better software.

Desired

• Experience defining database best practices and teaching classes on them.
• Experience building internal user-facing applications.
• Detailed domain knowledge in geospatial analysis.
• Experience working in a resource-constrained startup environment.
• Complementary experience such as: site reliability engineering, systems administration, technical consulting, technical instruction.
• Familiarity with tools we commonly use, such as: Bazel, Rancher/Docker, Bash, Ansible, Terraform, CircleCI, NumPy, Jupyter notebooks.

Life at Insight M
A few important facts about working at Insight M: - We provide health, dental, and vision insurance, including subsidized coverage for dependents, with HSA and FSA options. We have a 401K, short-term and long-term disability, life insurance, an Employee Assistance Program, and more perks. - We think death-march hours are a bad way to run a company. We expect something approximating a 40-hour workweek, but mostly we just care that your work gets done. No, really. (Full disclosure: we occasionally put in some extra hours during crunch periods, but that is the exception, not the norm). - We do not track vacation time, nor do we have set hours to be in the office. Instead, we encourage taking real vacations, mental health days, leaving early to pick up the kids, working from home, time-shifting commutes, staying home when you're sick, ducking out to the gym - we believe work time should be flexible. - Aside from hardware and flight operations, and some go-to-market roles, we have transitioned to 100% remote work and plan to continue having remote positions in perpetuity. (We love it when kids make a cameo in a video call.)
Insight M is an equal-opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Insight M makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.