INSAR Geospatial Data Platform Engineer
Leonardo · Rome, Lazio, Italy · €35K–€44K/yr
Defense and Space Manufacturing · 10,001+ employees
About the role
The engineer will manage the architecture and performance of a large-scale Earth Observation data processing system. They will collaborate with science teams to optimize pipelines, ensure scalability, and maintain high engineering standards.
What they look for
Requirements
Candidates should have up to 5 years of experience in software or systems engineering with strong Python programming skills. Experience with big data pipelines, cloud environments, and workflow orchestration tools is required.
Benefits
Full description
Job Description:
Leonardo is an international industrial group and a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security, delivering multi-domain technological capabilities across the sectors of helicopters, aircraft, aerostructures, electronics, cybersecurity, and space. Within Leonardo’s Space Division, e-GEOS—a company owned by ASI (20%) and Telespazio (80%)—is a leading international player in the Earth Observation and geospatial information sector, offering a unique portfolio of application services. Within the organizational unit Chief Technological Innovation Office at the Rome office we are looking for a resource to cover the position of INSAR Geospatial Data Platform Engineer
About the role
We're growing our engineering capacity around a large-scale Earth Observation data processing system, handling satellite radar data at global scale. This role is responsible for ensuring the system's architecture is scalable, efficient, and production-grade, working alongside specialized technical partners and our science team, with growing ownership over time. You'll join the SAR Algorithms team in the Algorithms and Prototypes unit, reporting to the team lead, who will also mentor you technically as you take on more architectural responsibility.
There is a clear growth path toward technical leadership of the system.
What you'll do
Review and assess technical architecture proposals (workflow orchestration, data handling, parallelization, resource usage) against project requirements, identifying scalability, performance, or cost risks.
Translate requirements between our science team and technical partners and represent engineering standards in technical discussions.
Review code for quality, maintainability, test coverage, and documentation.
Track technical milestones and acceptance criteria, covering both functional correctness and non-functional aspects like performance and scalability.
Maintain, extend, and debug components of the processing pipeline independently, with growing architectural ownership over time.
Optimize pipeline performance for large-scale, big data processing: I/O efficiency, storage formats, parallel and distributed processing.
Build pipeline- and resource-level monitoring so issues surface early.
Work with the science team to integrate data-quality checks into the pipeline.
Contribute to and strengthen existing CI/CD practices.
Help ensure the system reliably meets internal performance and reliability expectations.
What we're looking for
Up to 5 years of experience in software/systems engineering, ideally with exposure to big data, data-intensive, or scientific computing pipelines.
Solid hands-on programming skills in Python; comfort reading and working with C.
Experience with, or strong conceptual understanding of, workflow orchestration tools (e.g. Snakemake, Prefect, Airflow, or similar).
Experience with HPC and cloud computing environments.
Good understanding of I/O and performance bottlenecks in large-scale data processing.
Strong fundamentals in software engineering practice: testing, version control, code review, documentation.
A track record of taking ownership and learning quickly.
Comfortable reviewing and constructively challenging technical proposals, communicating clearly with both engineers and domain scientists.
Good written/oral English skills (at least B2 level)
Nice to have
Experience with geospatial or Earth Observation data.
Familiarity with chunked/array-based scientific computing tools (e.g. Dask, Xarray, Zarr).
Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
Experience working with external technical partners or contractors.
What we offer
Our collective bargaining agreement is the CCNL "Industria Metalmeccanica Privata e della Installazione di Impianti"
Working mode: Hybrid
Contract category: Clerk
Contractual type: 12-month fixed term
Thirteenth month;
Reward related to Business results;
Welfare vouchers;
Ticket of 8.50 euros
Opportunities for training and continuous updating of professional skills and soft skills;
Well-being: We put the economic, physical, social and psychological well-being of our people first, offering multiple solutions close to their needs.
Seniority:
Junior
Primary Location:
IT - Roma - Via Tiburtina, 965
Contract Type:
Fixed term Total Base Pay Range:
35-44K
Hybrid Working:
Hybrid
