Jacobs · 2025–present
Aerospace mission software
Cloud-native mission simulation and telemetry. What I can publish: the shape of the work, the constraints, and how I lead delivery — not program names, customers, or screenshots.
Staff Aerospace Software Engineer Jacobs National Security 20+ Years
Karl Hill
Aerospace Mission Software · Platform Engineering · DevSecOps · High-Assurance Delivery
I help aerospace and defense mission software teams ship reliably — through clear ownership, coaching, and operating standards that hold up when failure is expensive.
Open to Engineering Manager & Staff / Principal roles in aerospace, defense & federal mission software01 — Selected Work
View all work
Jacobs · 2025–present
Aerospace mission software
Cloud-native mission simulation and telemetry. What I can publish: the shape of the work, the constraints, and how I lead delivery — not program names, customers, or screenshots.
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.
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.
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.
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.
02 — 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.
03 — Why Me
I Build
Cloud-native mission services — containers, CI/CD, and multi-environment delivery that hold up under real constraints.
I Lead
Coaching, standards, and 1:1s so the team ships without depending on one person.
I Deliver
Sequenced plans, visible tradeoffs, and stakeholder trust when integration risk is high.
04 — Impact
20+
Years of Experience
1.5M
Monthly Visitors · NASA Platforms
$105M
Platform Acquisition Value
~60%
Efficiency Gained via Automation