Staff Machine Learning Quality Engineer

Staff Machine Learning Quality Engineer

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

BlackSky is looking for a talented and creative Staff Machine Learning Quality Engineer to support the development, operation, and capability evolution of Spectra AI, BlackSky’s cutting edge AI/ML Platform. As part of the machine learning team, you are instrumental in shaping our computer vision by managing the quality of data that trains AI/ML models. You will help manage the entire labeling process that trains Spectra AI, overseeing remote data labeling teams and actively assess the quality of trained models, which create critical timely insights for our customers. This position reports to the Manager, Machine Learning Quality and we would love candidates near either our Herndon, VA or Seattle, WA offices. We may also consider remote candidates in certain states.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage tasking for the data labeling teams, correcting work and ensuring consistent quality output for data to train machine learning models.
• Research use cases for computer vision machine learning models identifying areas of interest where objects exist, develop object ontologies, build annotation instructions, and identify imagery for annotation.
• Assess and report on the quality of machine learning models in development as well as production using statistical and quality assurance approaches.
• Create processes, tools, & scripts to manage and track data quality and performance.
• Work with the machine learning and product teams to define and measure the performance of machine learning models against SLAs.
• Learn customer requirements and map those to machine learning and computer vision tasks.
• Take part in the entire project lifecycle from requirements development to deployment.
• Collaborate with management and technical team on product and platform strategy.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of 8 years of hands-on experience as a data quality engineer, imagery analyst, GIS analyst, or quality assurance engineer in the space of satellites, computer vision, or machine learning.
• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in one of the following fields: computer science, GIS, data science, mathematics, physics, statistics, or another scientific field.
• Experience interpreting satellite imagery to identify objects, behaviors, or activities and working with GIS datasets.
• Hands-on experience with annotation platforms such as LabelBox, SuperAnnotate, AWS Sagemaker, or CVAT and managing remote annotation workforces.
• Able to independently manage work projects defining, managing, and executing based on fixed objectives.
• Collaborates well with others and able to communicate ideas to those with other backgrounds.
• Experience with quality assurance practices and/or testing.
• Attention to detail and ability to define, enforce, and follow rigorous process controls for managing data.
• Experience analyzing data to compute metrics and statistics.
• While a clearance is not required, this position does require eligibility to obtain a clearance which requires U.S. citizenship.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with or managing Data Labeling teams such as CloudFactory, Hive, or Mechanical Turk.
• Experience with AI advancements in image annotation such as the Segment Anything Model (SAM), Embeddings, and other AI Assistance tools.
• Proficiency in python3 for automation and data manipulation tasks.
• Knowledge and experience working in an AWS Cloud environment.

Life at BlackSky for full-time benefits-eligible employees includes:

• Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance.
• BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!
• 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more.
• 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match.
• Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs.
• Employer matching donations.
• Professional development.
• Mac or PC? Your choice!
• Awesome swag.

BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.