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Engineering Manager, Spatial Risk Intelligence

Descartes Labs

Descartes Labs

Software Engineering, Other Engineering
Vancouver, BC, Canada
CAD 175k-205k / year
Posted on Oct 18, 2025

OUR VISION

At EarthDaily Analytics (EDA), we strive to build a more sustainable planet by creating innovative solutions that combine satellite imagery of the Earth, modern software engineering, machine learning, and cloud computing to solve the toughest challenges in agriculture, energy and mining, insurance and risk mitigation, wildfire and forest intelligence, carbon-capture verification and more.

EDA’s signature Earth Observation mission, the EarthDaily Constellation (EDC), is currently under construction. The EDC will be the most powerful global change detection and change monitoring system ever developed, capable of generating unprecedented predictive analytics and insights. It will combine with the EarthPipeline data processing system to provide unprecedented, scientific-grade data of the world every day, positioning EDA to meet the growing needs of diverse industries.

OUR TEAM
Our Space Risk Intelligence team, specializing in technologies tailored for forestry applications, including wildfire monitoring, forest carbon assessment, and tracking tree growth.

READY TO LAUNCH?
We are seeking an Engineering Manager to lead the engineering for the Spatial Risk Intelligence Line of Business (LoB) including the development and scaling of Ascend, our geospatial data visualization platform.

PREPARE FOR IMPACT!
Reporting to the VP, Spatial Risk Intelligence. This role will be pivotal in advancing our capabilities to deliver high fidelity, interactive, and performant geospatial insights to customers worldwide. You will oversee engineering teams working across cloud infrastructure, frontend visualization, geospatial data services, and integration with EarthDaily’s analytics and satellite imagery pipelines.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership & Strategy

  • Define and execute the engineering vision and roadmap for the Spatial Risk and Intelligence LoB, including Ascend as EarthDaily’s geospatial visualization platform
  • Partner with product and data science teams to align platform capabilities with customer and business goals
  • Drive adoption of best practices in AI, Agile delivery, system design, testing, and observability
Technical Oversight
  • Oversee architecture and scalability of visualization systems supporting high-volume satellite imagery and derived analytics
  • Ensure robust integration of geospatial data pipelines (raster, vector, time-series) into interactive mapping and analysis tools
  • Guide decisions around cloud deployment (Kubernetes, GCP/AWS/Azure), microservices, and geospatial databases
Team Management
  • Lead, mentor, and grow cross-functional engineering teams, including frontend, backend, and DevOps engineers
  • Build a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and accountability. Recruit top engineering talent and develop career growth paths for team members
Execution & Delivery
  • Ensure high quality, on-time delivery of platform features and capabilities
  • Establish and monitor engineering KPIs, including performance, reliability, and efficiency
  • Drive innovation in geospatial visualization, including 3D rendering, timelapse analytics, and AI/ML integration.
YOUR PAST MISSIONS (AKA Experience)
  • 10 years of engineering experience, with at least 5+ years in leadership roles
  • Preferred advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field
  • Proven track record delivering large-scale SaaS platforms, ideally in geospatial, data visualization, or analytics domains
  • Experience with cloud infrastructure and Kubernetes-based deployments
  • Preferred background in Earth Observation, remote sensing, or satellite imagery analytics
  • Preferred experience integrating AI/ML workflows with geospatial platforms
YOUR TOOLKIT (AKA Skills and Knowledge)
  • Strong knowledge of geospatial technologies (PostGIS, Memgraph, Elastic, PMTiles, GDAL, OpenLayers, etc.)
  • Expertise in modern frontend frameworks (React, TypeScript) and high-performance data visualization
  • Preferred Familiarity with regulatory, security, and data governance aspects of geospatial systems
  • Excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills
YOUR COMPENSATION
Base Salary Range: $175,000 - $205,000 CAD annually

The range $175,000 - $205,000 annually depends on job-related skills, experience, training, education, location, and business needs. The range is based on BC-derived compensation for this role. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role. Only in rare and exceptional circumstances, when a candidate has the experience, skills, and expertise to exceed those required for the position, would we consider paying at the top of the range for this role. Beyond base, a bonus applies.

OUR SPACE

We’d love to welcome you to our world of software for space. We have a shared passion for building production critical systems that generate near real-time views of Earth from satellites that power real-world applications like disaster monitoring and crop yield improvements. It’s a fun, fast paced, exciting environment where we hold innovation, team work, honesty and trust as our core values. Our software engineering tech stack is as innovative as the satellites we serve. We use fully cloud-native architectures, the latest advancements in computer vision and machine learning, and modern software engineering practices with fully automated CICD software development pipelines continually testing our code, and reliably delivering software systems to cloud-based production environments. And just like space exploration - we’re constantly evolving and pushing new technology boundaries.

To make the most innovative products that serve our customers, we recognize the role that each of us plays in Diversity and Inclusion at EarthDaily. We draw from our diverse crew of exceptional team members and encourage and empower our team members to express themselves regardless of identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

WHY EARTHDAILY ANALYTICS?

  • Competitive compensation, full benefits and flexible time off
  • Be part of a meaningful mission as part of one of Canada’s most innovative space companies that are developing sustainable solutions for our planet
  • Continuous employee growth and development including training from leading experts in the field in advanced topics spanning remote sensing to cloud-native architecture
  • Innovation time built into our schedule to foster new ideas and technological evolution
  • Flexible working hours with work from home opportunities made to fit your life
  • Great work environment, team and one of the best office locations in Vancouver (right over the water in the new Vancouver Convention Centre)
  • Company subsidized bi-weekly team lunches, lunch & learns and Friday afternoon social hours