Staff Software Engineer 20+ Years
Karl Hill
I help mission-driven teams ship reliably — through clear ownership, coaching, and operating standards that outlast any single hero.
Open to Engineering Manager & Staff+ leadership roles00 — Impact
20+
Years of Experience
1.5M
Monthly Visitors · NASA Platforms
$105M
Platform Acquisition Value
~60%
Efficiency Gained via Automation
01 — Why Me
I Build
Cloud-native platforms on AWS. Containerized services with Docker and Kubernetes. High-traffic web systems. Secure CI/CD pipelines. Built to last and operate reliably at scale — not just to demo well.
I Lead
People and systems together. 1:1s, onboarding, honest feedback, PR standards, and definition of done — the operating work that turns a group of engineers into a team that ships without burning out.
I Deliver
Predictable execution, every sprint. I translate mission needs into sequenced plans, partner with stakeholders, remove blockers for others, and keep trust when priorities collide.
02 — Selected Work
View all work
NASA · 2017–2025
Flood Mapping System
Mission-critical geospatial platform generating near-real-time flood inundation maps during active global disaster events. Architected the fully automated pipeline — from raw satellite sensor ingestion through geospatial product generation, dissemination, and integration with international emergency-management networks — engineered for fault tolerance and reliability when latency is measured in hours, not sprints.
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NASA · 2017–2025
NASA Earth Observatory
Flagship science-communication platform serving 1.5M+ monthly visitors with satellite imagery and Earth science data. Led the architectural overhaul of the publishing pipeline — re-platforming editorial workflows for distributed content teams and hardening the delivery layer for accessibility, performance, and search at scale. Set the technical direction that turned ad-hoc story production into a repeatable, self-service system built to evolve for the next decade.
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NASA · 2017–2025
Direct Readout Laboratory
Real-time scientific data-processing hub ingesting multi-instrument sensor streams from polar-orbiting satellites. Designed the ingestion and reformatting architecture that transforms raw downlinks into Level-0 through Level-2 geophysical products, sustaining 24/7 distribution to operational centers and a global network of registered direct-broadcast ground stations.
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03 — Latest Writing
All writing-
2 min read
Performance Feedback Without Politics
Useful feedback is specific, timely, and about observed work — not personality theater. The goal is growth and clarity, not a paper trail built in panic.
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2 min read
Saying No to Roadmap Pressure Without Losing Trust
Stakeholders do not need unlimited yes. They need engineering partners who make tradeoffs visible early — and keep their word when priorities collide.
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3 min read
Staff IC to Engineering Manager: What Changes in the First 90 Days
The Staff-to-EM transition is not a promotion into more architecture. It is a shift from being the strongest contributor to building a team that no longer needs you to be.