Sensor Data Engineer

Own the software that turns raw weather-balloon measurements into trusted observations. Build sensor-processing pipelines, improve quality control, and investigate data issues.

About this role

WindBorne Systems is supercharging weather forecasts with a unique proprietary data source: a global constellation of next-generation smart weather balloons targeting the most critical atmospheric data. We design, manufacture, and operate our own balloons, using the data they collect to generate otherwise unattainable weather intelligence.

We're hiring a Sensor Data Engineer to own the software that turns raw measurements into weather data. You'll be responsible for a pipeline that continuously processes temperature, humidity, pressure, position, and wind data from hundreds of balloons around the globe, supporting rapidly changing hardware while maintaining absolute trust in data quality. 

Sensor data can fail silently: a 1 °C temperature bias can creep into the data and impact live weather forecasts without raising any alarm bells. You should care how each of our sensors works and be paranoid about the dozens of ways a measurement can become biased or noisy. You do not need to arrive as an expert in production software systems, but you do need to be willing and able to learn what is needed to manage them.

The ideal candidate for this role thinks like a scientist and wants to own our growing sensor processing software stack. We are a small team working in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment, and while the core job function involves software systems, you’ll have the opportunity to do wide-ranging work across all aspects of our atmospheric sensors, from hardware R&D to collaborating with academic partners.

Responsibilities

• Production software that converts raw balloon measurements into weather observations in customer-facing databases

• Sensor processing and quality control algorithms for temperature, pressure, humidity, wind, and other measurements

• Investigating pipeline failures, including data loss and quality issues

• Improving the architecture and scalability of sensor-processing systems as the constellation grows

Skills and qualifications

• Have strong intuition for sensors, physics, and/or statistics and can reason from first principles

• Can communicate clearly about complex technical systems across hardware and software teams

• Have strong Python and data-analysis skills and are willing to learn how to manage databases, Linux systems, production services, and 24/7 data pipelines

• Have high agency and are comfortable owning systems end-to-end with minimal oversight

Bonus

• Background in physics, atmospheric science, computer science, or another quantitative engineering field

• Experience with instrumentation, calibration, meteorological sensors, or scientific measurement systems

• Experience with statistics, filtering, or production data-processing systems

• Experience working in a fast-moving R&D environment

Benefits

401(k), health, dental and vision insurance, unlimited PTO, stock options, and office food and beverages.

Location

In person at 1600 Bridge Parkway, Redwood City, CA.

Base pay: $100,000–$200,000 / year

Depending on experience and scope.

Employment type: Full time

Work arrangement: On-site