Backend Geospatial Software Engineer
Chesapeake Technology, Inc. | Remote — US
About Chesapeake Technology
Chesapeake Technology is a 25-year leader in marine survey software, developing SonarWiz — the industry-standard platform for processing sidescan sonar, sub-bottom profiler, bathymetry, and magnetometer data. We serve commercial survey companies, research institutions, government agencies, and defense customers worldwide. We are currently building a next-generation cloud-native platform that brings AI/ML-powered processing to the browser, along with edge computing capabilities for real-time AUV data analysis.
The Role
We're looking for a Backend Geospatial Software Engineer to architect and build the cloud processing engine powering our new platform. You'll work on large-scale geospatial data pipelines — ingesting, transforming, and serving sonar and bathymetric datasets — using modern Python-based scientific computing tools on AWS. You'll also help design lightweight edge processing solutions that run onboard autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for real-time sensor analysis and decision-making. High-impact role on a small, focused team where your work ships directly to production.
What You'll Do
Design and implement scalable backend services for cloud-based geospatial data processing
Build distributed data pipelines using Dask and Xarray to process large multi-dimensional sonar datasets
Architect and optimize AWS infrastructure (S3, Lambda, ECS/EKS, Step Functions, SQS) for compute-intensive workloads
Develop edge computing pipelines for onboard AUV data analysis, enabling real-time target detection and adaptive survey planning
Design systems that bridge edge and cloud — syncing, validating, and enriching AUV-collected data post-mission
Develop APIs that serve processed geospatial data to the web-based frontend
Integrate ML/AI models for automated bottom tracking, target recognition, and data classification
Optimize data storage, compression, and retrieval for large raster and point-cloud datasets
Contribute to infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD pipelines
What We're Looking For
Required
3+ years of backend software engineering experience with Python
Strong hands-on experience with AWS (S3, EC2/ECS, Lambda, Step Functions, or equivalent orchestration)
Production experience with Dask for distributed/parallel computing
Production experience with Xarray for multi-dimensional array data
Solid understanding of geospatial data formats and CRS (GeoTIFF, NetCDF, shapefiles, WGS84, UTM)
Experience building RESTful or GraphQL APIs
Comfort with containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes)
Preferred
Experience with edge computing or embedded processing on resource-constrained platforms (ARM, NVIDIA Jetson, or similar)
Familiarity with AUV/UUV systems, robotics middleware (ROS/ROS2), or real-time sensor data processing
Experience with marine survey, hydrographic, or oceanographic data
Familiarity with sonar data processing (sidescan, multibeam, sub-bottom profiler)
Experience with GDAL/OGR, Rasterio, or similar geospatial libraries
Background in scientific computing or numerical methods
Experience with ML/AI pipelines (TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar), including model optimization for edge deployment
Familiarity with Zarr, Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG), or other cloud-native data formats
Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, CDK)
Active or ability to obtain a U.S. security clearance
Why Chesapeake
High impact — your code processes real-world ocean data used by navies, researchers, and survey companies worldwide
Cloud + edge — work across the full spectrum, from scalable cloud infrastructure to real-time processing onboard AUVs
Greenfield platform — built from the ground up with modern tools, no legacy constraints
Small team, big ownership — direct influence on architecture decisions and product direction
Domain expertise — 25 years of sonar processing knowledge; you'll learn a fascinating domain
Flexible work — fully remote within the US with a collaborative, low-bureaucracy culture
Compensation & Benefits
Competitive salary commensurate with experience. Benefits include health insurance, flexible PTO, and professional development opportunities.
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