Technical Program Manager, Trade Compliance

About the role

We are looking for a Technical Program Manager (TPM) for Trade Compliance to embed directly within our product and software development and data analytics teams. Your mission is to drive compliance to enable product and software delivery in a rapid development environment. You will take complex regulatory requirements and turn them into pragmatic, scalable product features and workflows.

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our Washington, DC or Denver, CO office 3 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Drive and enable trade compliance as a scalable, structured framework rather than ad-hoc requirements, enabling compliance to be built seamlessly into a rapid development environment.
• Collaborate with product managers and engineers to understand product roadmaps and product lifecycle, and drive trade compliance requirements.
• Apply a pragmatic, risk-based approach to compliance. Evaluate technical trade-offs and guide product teams on how to meet ITAR/EAR without sacrificing speed-to-market.
• Manage the contract and relationship with compliance vendors.
• Conduct and document systematic Export Classification Orders of Review (e.g., ITAR and EAR) for complex data analytics and software solutions.
• Establish and maintain rigorous contemporaneous documentation tracking design intent/decisions and their impact on the export controls associated with the product/solution.
• To ensure ITAR/EAR compliance, design, implement, and audit strict technical access controls to govern product development work amongst US and non-US based software development teams based upon product/software classification.
• Work with product teams to develop Know Your Customer (KYC) and restricted party screening processes and workflows to tie into Planet’s restricted party screening solution and ensure compliance with OFAC/sanctions requirements (and applicable global equivalents).

Qualifications

• 4 to 6 years of relevant experience in export controls, international trade compliance, or regulatory compliance program management within a high-tech or aerospace environment.
• Practical knowledge of ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and EAR (Export Administration Regulations), specifically as they apply to software, dual-use items, encryption, and satellite/geospatial data analytics.
• Technical Vocabulary: Ability to understand and converse fluently in "product language" (e.g., APIs, cloud infrastructure, containerization, and data pipeline architecture) to effectively translate across product/engineering roadmaps and compliance.
• Experience with the product life cycle: concept through development, launch preparation, go-to-market, deprecations, and end-of-life.
• Analytical, problem-solving, and creative thinking skills paired with the ability to communicate findings and recommendations.
• Equally comfortable explaining your analyses and recommendations to business leaders as you are discussing technical trade-offs with engineers.
• Ability to balance the tactical day-to-day with forward-looking improvements to scale operational efficiencies.
• Experience working inside dynamic software engineering environments: CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and Agile methodologies.

What You Bring

• Ability to obtain clearance.
• Experience with remote sensing, earth observation data, or geospatial systems.
• Experience working with remote, worldwide teams.
• Demonstrated success in optimizing processes and tools to scale development cycles.
• Proactive approach to learning and applying emerging regulatory standards to product development.

What Makes You Stand Out

Ability to obtain clearance.

Experience with remote sensing, earth observation data, or geospatial systems.

Experience working with remote, worldwide teams.

Demonstrated success in optimizing processes and tools to scale development cycles.

Proactive approach to learning and applying emerging regulatory standards to product development.

Benefits

• 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

Pay

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.

• New York City + California Salary Range: $136,000 - $170,000 USD
• San Francisco Salary Range: $144,500 - $180,600 USD
• US National Salary Range: $127,000 - $158,700 USD

Schedule

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our Washington, DC or Denver, CO office 3 days per week.