Planet Labs

Commercial AI Innovation Lead

Planet Labs$142K — $203K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Business Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in commercial strategy, data analytics, or customer-facing roles, ideally in geospatial or enterprise SaaS sectors.
  • In-depth knowledge of commercial market data applications, including alternative data for finance and supply chain analytics.
  • Proven ability to prototype and effectively present AI-driven concepts to diverse audiences.
  • Familiarity with geospatial AI techniques such as change detection and image classification.
  • Demonstrated history of navigating ambiguous settings to drive projects forward.
  • Strong communication skills, capable of influencing senior stakeholders with data-supported arguments.

Responsibilities

  • Identify high-value commercial use cases for Planet's imagery and analytics in sectors like financial services and infrastructure.
  • Lead the innovation pipeline from hypothesis to MVP, creating demo-ready prototypes.
  • Collaborate with Sales and Customer Success to translate customer insights into AI-enabled concepts.
  • Assist in converting validated prototypes into actionable product roadmap inputs across teams.
  • Act as a senior advisor to Commercial leadership on AI and commercial viability.
  • Promote adoption of innovations by integrating new tools into Sales and Customer Success workflows.
  • Engage with academia to discover new innovation opportunities.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans.
  • Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contributions.
  • Generous Paid Time Off along with holidays and organizational-wide days off.
  • 16 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave available.
  • Access to a Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
  • Reimbursement for home office setup.
  • Monthly reimbursement for phone and internet expenses.
  • Tuition reimbursement and access to online learning resources.
  • Equity options for employees.
  • Commuter benefits for those working near an office.
  • Paid time off for volunteering activities.
Full Job Description
About the Role:

As lead for Commercial AI Innovation, you will sit at the intersection of Planet's most valuable asset - the world's largest daily Earth observation archive - and the commercial use cases that prove its economic power. You will identify where Planet's imagery, analytics, and AI infrastructure can generate leading economic signals and physical economy intelligence for commercial customers, then rapidly prototype, validate, and scale those concepts into measurable revenue impact.

This role is equal parts strategist and builder. You will partner closely with Sales, Customer Success, Product, and Data Science to translate Planet's AI-led product strategy into prioritized roadmaps and customer-ready proof points - moving fast, building proof, and finding the signal before committing full engineering resources. At a moment when Planet is expanding its next-generation constellation fleet and accelerating its analytics and intelligence offerings, this role exists to make sure the commercial organization is equipped to win the next chapter of Earth observation.

This is a full-time, remote position based in the United States. If located near an office, you are expected to work from that office 3 days per week.

Impact You'll Own:
  • Identify and prioritize high-value commercial use cases where Planet's imagery archive, Planet Analytic Feeds, Planetary Variables, and embeddings infrastructure generate differentiated economic signals - with emphasis on financial services, supply chain, energy, and infrastructure verticals
  • Spearheads a technology innovation pipeline from initial hypothesis through MVP validation, building demo-ready prototypes on Planet's platform well ahead of full product investment
  • Partner with Commercial Sales and Customer Success leadership to systematically convert field insight and customer conversations into structured, repeatable AI-enabled concepts
  • Provide support to translate validated prototypes into prioritized product roadmap inputs, coordinating across Product, Data Science, and Engineering to create a credible path to scale
  • Serve as a senior thought partner to Commercial leadership, framing where AI-driven differentiation is both technically achievable and commercially viable
  • Drive adoption of innovation outputs by embedding new tools and frameworks into Sales plays, Customer Success workflows, and partner programs
  • Partner with the Education and research liaison on finding new innovation opportunities in academia.
  • Represent Planet's commercial AI capabilities externally with customers (particularly our largest and most strategic commercial customers), at industry forums, and with the analyst community

What You Bring:
  • 10+ years spanning commercial strategy, customer-facing roles, and data or analytics product development - ideally at the intersection of geospatial, alternative data, or enterprise SaaS
  • Deep familiarity with commercial market data use cases: alternative data for financial services, supply chain analytics, physical economy signals, or adjacent domains where satellite-derived intelligence creates decision advantage
  • Ability to prototype and pitch AI-enabled concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences - you can build a compelling demo and a compelling business case, and you know which one the room needs
  • Working knowledge of the geospatial AI landscape: change detection, image classification, time-series analysis over Earth observation data, and the role of embeddings in enabling semantic query across global imagery archives
  • Track record of building momentum in ambiguous, low-resource environments
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills; experience influencing VP and C-suite stakeholders with data-backed narratives

What Makes You Stand Out:
  • Direct experience building or selling into the alternative data ecosystem - hedge funds, commodity intelligence, physical economy indexing, or supply chain analytics
  • Hands-on experience with rapid prototyping tools and vibe coding workflows (Cursor, Streamlit, or similar) to build and validate concepts without a full engineering team
  • Familiarity with Planet's product suite and the Earth observation competitive landscape
  • Experience operating within or alongside a commercial skunkworks or innovation function inside a data or SaaS company

Application Deadline:

September 11, 2026 by 11:59p PST

Benefits While Working at Planet:

These offerings are dependent on employment type and geographical location, based upon applicable law or company policy.
  • Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
  • Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution
  • Generous Paid Time Off in addition to holidays and company-wide days off
  • 16 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave
  • Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Home Office Reimbursement
  • Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
  • Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
  • Equity
  • Commuter Benefits (if local to an office)
  • Volunteering Paid Time Off

Compensation:

The US base salary range for this full-time position at the commencement of employment is listed below. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives (bonus and equity). The final salary range is determined by job related experience, skills and location. The range displays our typical hiring range for new hire salaries in US locations only. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
#LI-REMOTE

New York City + California Salary Range

$153,000-$191,300 USD

San Francisco Salary Range

$162,600-$203,200 USD

US National Salary Range

$142,800-$178,500 USD

San Francisco Fair Chance OrdinancePursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

About Planet Labs

Planet Labs is an aerospace and defense company that designs and manufactures small satellites for Earth observation. The company offers services such as satellite imagery, data analysis, and geospatial insights. Planet Labs was founded in 2010 and is based in San Francisco, CA.
Learn more about Planet Labs
Size
500 employees
Industry
Founded
2010

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