ABOUT PLACER.AI:

One of the fastest growing tech companies in North America, Placer.ai (“Placer”) reached $100 million ARR “Centaur” status in 2024, within 6 years of launching the Placer platform. We previously crossed the $1B valuation “Unicorn” threshold in 2022.

Our A.I.-based SaaS platform transforms how leaders make critical decisions by unlocking unparalleled visibility into markets and locations, creating a blue ocean market of more than $100B. And the best part is, we accomplished this by leading a privacy-first business in which data has been stripped of user identifiers and only aggregated information is provided within the platform.

Our platform provides instant visibility into almost any location in the U.S. We have grown exponentially over the past 6 years, counting more than 4,000+ paying customers including many Fortune 500 companies, such as, JP Morgan Chase, Wayfair, Google and many more.

Named one of Forbes America’s Best Startup Employers and a Deloitte Technology Fast company, we are proud of our collaborative, innovative and inclusive culture.

Summary

We're looking for a Senior Devops Engineer to own the infrastructure behind one of the world's largest location analytics platforms - from CI/CD pipelines and cloud environments to developer tooling and observability. This is a hands-on, end-to-end ownership role at the intersection of scale, reliability, and engineering velocity.

Responsibilities

Own and evolve Placer's GCP infrastructure end-to-end - multi-cluster GKE, Terraform via Atlantis, ArgoCD GitOps
Drive CI/CD pipeline reliability and developer tooling - reduce friction, increase release velocity
Manage production and development environments across multiple workloads with high availability requirements
Build and maintain observability systems - dashboards, alerting, and incident response that keep the team ahead of failures
Identify and resolve performance, scalability, and reliability bottlenecks before they become incidents
Collaborate directly with engineering teams to shape infrastructure decisions from design through deployment
Introduce new tools, standards, and frameworks - you define the approach, not just execute it

Requirements

5+ years in a Production Engineering, SRE, or Platform Engineering role at a SaaS product company
3+ years of hands-on Kubernetes in production - not just deployment, but operating and scaling it
2+ years with IaC tools - Terraform, Pulumi, or equivalent at real scale
Experience managing production databases and queues - PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, or similar
Proficiency in at least one general-purpose language - Python, Go, or Ruby
Strong monitoring and alerting fundamentals - you build the systems that catch problems before users do

Nice to have:

GCP experience - this is our primary cloud
CKA certification or deep Kubernetes ecosystem knowledge - CNIs, service meshes, operators, ingresses
Experience with RabbitMQ or Kafka at scale
Familiarity with GitOps workflows - ArgoCD or equivalent

WHY JOIN PLACER.AI?

Join a rocketship! We are pioneers of a new market that we are creating
Take a central and critical role at Placer.ai
Work with, and learn from, top-notch talent
Competitive salary
Excellent benefits
Hybrid

The U.S. annualized pay range for this position is $190,000 - $210,000 USD. In addition, certain roles have the opportunity to earn sales-based commissions. Base pay offered within the stated range may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including job-related skills, professional experience, education and licenses (if applicable), work location and compensation market data.

Base pay is just a part of our total rewards program. Placer provides medical, dental and vision coverage as well as flexible time off, 401K and equity awards for certain roles.

Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

NOTEWORTHY LINKS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLACER

Placer.ai is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace and promoting a safe, healthy working environment for all employees.

Placer.ai is an equal opportunity employer and has a global remote workforce. Placer.ai’s applicants are considered solely based on their qualifications, without regard to an applicant’s disability or need for accommodation. Any Placer.ai applicant who requires reasonable accommodations during the application process should contact Placer.ai’s Human Resources Department to make the need for an accommodation known.

#LI-AC1

#LI-AC1

About the company

Placer.ai provides location analytics and customer behavior intelligence by collecting and analyzing data on foot traffic, visit trends, market landscapes, and demographics. It offers a platform that helps clients understand property performance, benchmark against competitors, identify high-potential investment opportunities, and monitor a portfolio in real time. The product works by aggregating proprietary data into actionable insights—such as visit patterns, marketing impact, and optimal store locations—accessible through a centralized platform. The company differentiates itself with its real-world, data-driven approach and real-time portfolio monitoring, enabling retailers, property managers, investors, and marketers to optimize strategies and target the right customers. Its goal is to help customers understand the physical world more accurately, gain a competitive edge, and make informed decisions about marketing, investments, and site selection.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

Late Stage VC

Total Funding

$301M

Headquarters

Santa Cruz, California

Founded

2018

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

Placer.ai launched a CMBS report on April 1, 2026, expanding lender and investor use.
Starbucks traffic improved for twelve straight months in Placer.ai research, boosting credibility.
July 2026 white paper codified site-selection methodology for high-growth retail and dining brands.

What critics are saying

Senator Warren's 2022 scrutiny still shadows Placer.ai's sensitive-location data practices in 2026.
Placer.ai's business depends on partner app data, so platform policy changes can starve inputs.
If privacy backlash blocks collection or access, Placer.ai's location intelligence model collapses.

What makes Placer Labs unique

Placer.ai pairs foot-traffic analytics with CRE finance, adding CRED iQ CMBS data in April 2026.
The February 2026 TRS partnership links analytics directly to site selection and lease execution.
The August 2026 privacy FAQ says Placer uses aggregated, k-anonymous, identifier-stripped data.

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Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Flexible Work Hours
401(k) Retirement Plan
Company Equity
Remote Work Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-1%

1 year growth

-1%

2 year growth

PR Newswire

Apr 1st, 2026

Placer.ai and CRED iQ merge foot traffic data with CRE finance intel for CMBS analysis

CRED iQ, a commercial real estate finance data platform, has partnered with Placer.ai to launch a Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities report combining foot traffic analytics with CRE financial data. The report layers Placer's location intelligence onto CMBS portfolio assets using CRED iQ's dataset, giving lenders and investors enhanced visibility into market and asset performance. The integrated platform enables users to benchmark property performance across sectors, identify early signals of asset deterioration or outperformance, and incorporate real-world consumer visitation data into underwriting decisions. The solution addresses three core use cases: performance benchmarking, early signal detection and smarter underwriting. The CMBS report is now available on Placer.ai's platform, aimed at helping CRE professionals make more informed trading and portfolio management decisions.

Placer.ai

Feb 12th, 2026

Placer.ai and The Retail Strategy Partner to Bridge the Gap Between Location Analytics and Deal Execution

Placer.ai and The Retail Strategy partner to Bridge the gap between location analytics and Deal Execution. February 12, 2026 Placer.ai Announces Strategic Partnership with The Retail Strategy to Bridge Location Intelligence and Retail Deal Making. LOS ALTOS, CA, (February 12, 2026) - Placer.ai, the global leader in location intelligence, and The Retail Strategy (TRS), a premier full-service outsourced real estate department, today announced a strategic partnership designed to transform how retail brands approach market expansion. By integrating Placer.ai's advanced data with TRS's negotiation and site selection expertise, the partnership offers retailers an end-to-end solution, ensuring expansion plans are backed by data and executed by professionals. In an era where retail markets are increasingly crowded and fragmented, the cost of a wrong location is higher than ever. Too often, expansion decisions rely on incomplete data or inconsistent broker anecdotes, creating an "execution gap" between analytical insights and signed leases. This partnership closes that loop. Closing the Loop: From Insight to Signed Lease The partnership leverages a five-step end-to-end workflow that guides clients from market prioritization to grand opening. While Placer.ai provides the "what" and "where" through foot-traffic intelligence, TRS manages the "how," interpreting those insights to drive physical site validation and lease negotiation. Key benefits of the partnership include: * Market Prioritization & Whitespace Modeling: Utilizing location analytics to identify high-potential markets and gaps for expansion. * Strategic Interpretation & Filtering: Translating data outputs into strategy to align with specific brand growth goals. * Site-Level Validation & Forecasting: A collaborative approach to validating physical sites through performance forecasting and trade area analysis. * Deal Execution & Rollout: Managing broker coordination, landlord engagement, and utilizing data to negotiate leases from a position of strength. * Marketing Optimization: Leveraging ongoing location intelligence to refine grand opening strategies and drive local competitive conquesting. About Placer.ai Placer.ai is the most advanced foot traffic analytics platform allowing anyone with a stake in the physical world to instantly generate insights into any property or chain for a deeper understanding of the factors that drive success. Placer.ai is the first platform that fully empowers professionals in retail, commercial real estate, hospitality, economic development, and more to truly understand and maximize their offline activities. Find more information here: https://placer.ai/ About The Retail Strategy The Retail Strategy is a full-service outsourced real estate department committed to elevating retail expansion. From developing a market strategy through store opening, TRS acts as a "one-stop shop" for tenants seeking growth on local, regional, and national levels. By marrying the art and science of expansion, their dedicated Location Intelligence Team uncovers hidden insights to drive strategic growth. TRS prioritizes data visualization and brand-specific attributes to provide focused analytics, giving clients the confidence to make educated decisions and secure results-backed locations. Learn more at https://theretailstrategy.com/. Media Contacts: Ethan Chernofsky, [email protected], +972 54-316-2220 The Retail Strategy Recent Publications

Progressive Grocer

Jun 24th, 2025

Placer.ai Elevates Ethan Chernofsky to CMO

Location intelligence firm Placer.ai has promoted Ethan Chernofsky to chief marketing officer.

TechCrunch

Jun 16th, 2025

A Comprehensive List Of 2025 Tech Layoffs

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone.We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs — and what could be at stake with increased innovation.Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of all the known tech layoffs that have occurred in 2025, which will be updated regularly. If you have a tip on a layoff, contact us here. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact us here.JunePlaytikaAnnounced that it is letting go of around 90 employees, with 40 in Israel and 50 in Poland

Yahoo Finance

Jun 4th, 2025

Dollar Stores Are Seeing Higher-Income Shoppers Rush In The Door. It'S A Warning Sign For The Us Economy.

Dollar store chains have seen an influx of higher-income shoppers in recent months as economic uncertainty surges and households look to save. "Higher-income customers have been a meaningful growth driver for us," Dollar Tree (DLTR) CEO Michael Creedon told investors, specifically noting the chain saw an increase in customers with household incomes of more than $100,000. The company reported that same-store sales rose 5.4% in the first quarter, with improvement across all income levels. Earlier this week, Dollar General (DG) told investors it "saw the highest percent of trade-in customers" in the last four years during the first quarter. Its CEO, Todd Vasos, said the company saw increased trade-in activity, or consumers who would typically shop at higher-cost competitors, from middle- and high-income consumers, who came to Dollar General instead. Its same-store sales grew 3.4% in the quarter

Placer Labs

Senior DevOps Engineer

About the job