3D Software Engineer - Application Development

Palantir builds the world’s leading software for data-driven decisions and operations. By bringing the right data to the people who need it, our platforms empower our partners to develop lifesaving drugs, forecast supply chain disruptions, locate missing children, and more.

Palantir Foundry is an end-to-end platform for data-driven decision-making, and as a 3D Software Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in extending its capabilities to handle advanced 3D visualization and geospatial workflows. We're transforming the way organizations integrate and interact with complex 3D data—such as gaussian splats, point clouds, BIM files, CAD models, and schematics—so they can build reliable, mission-critical applications atop a unified foundation.

In this role, you will join a specialized team within Foundry focused on 3D tools and visualization, working closely with industries like Architecture, Construction, Automotive, Aerospace, Space, Oil and Gas, Mining, and Utilities. Our customers use Foundry to visualize and analyze 3D models and geospatial data to support their daily operations, across infrastructure planning, asset management, digital twins for industrial facilities, and real-time monitoring of complex engineering systems.

As a 3D Software Engineer, you will be responsible for designing and developing cutting-edge tools that allow thousands of users to interact with 3D data in intuitive and powerful ways. You will develop new end-to-end approaches for displaying 3D geometry—from offline pre-processing of large datasets to novel realtime approaches on the GPU—and build applications that use them for visualization and analysis. Your work will empower customers to build sophisticated applications, such as interactive dashboards for construction sites, geospatial analysis tools for mining operations, or simulation environments for aerospace design.

You may spend one day collaborating with customers in the construction sector to understand their needs when visualizing BIM files, identify gaps in their current tools, and prototype solutions. The next day, you might brainstorm with teammates on optimizing shader performance for rendering large-scale point clouds or voxel models in real time, or work with backend engineers to define APIs and schemas that back these workflows.

You’ll regularly face sophisticated technical problems, requiring you to scope out the solution design and find an incremental path to ship new features. As part of this, you will own APIs and schemas that power your frontend code, or work with other backend engineers in developing them together.

Below are some examples of the types of product work you’d get to do in this role:

•  3D Visualization Tools: Build interactive tools for rendering and manipulating 3D models, such as CAD and BIM files, enabling architects and engineers to explore designs in real time.

•  Geospatial Workflows: Develop features for visualizing and analyzing geospatial data like gaussian splats, point clouds, and voxel models, supporting use cases in utilities, mining, oil and gas exploration, and urban planning.

•  Shader Development: Write and optimize custom shaders to enhance the performance and visual fidelity of renderings for applications in aerospace and automotive design.

•  Digital Twins: Create interfaces for integrating 3D schematics and real-time sensor data, powering digital twin applications for utilities and industrial facilities.

•  Performance Optimization: Solve complex challenges related to rendering large-scale 3D datasets, ensuring smooth performance for end-users in high-stakes environments like space mission planning.  

Foundry Software Engineers may be offered the opportunity to Frontline, an exclusive program unlike any other. This unique, short-term assignment involves being embedded with customers, allowing you to work directly with users and gain firsthand insight into how our products are used and the challenges our customers face. Unlike traditional engineering roles, Frontline immerses you in complex, ambiguous problems, empowering you to deliver impactful solutions across some of the world’s most important industries and institutions.

Some of our most successful products were built on the factory floor, addressing real-world problems for the world's most important institutions. These products were developed by some of our most successful product engineers, who began their careers in roles aligned with Frontline responsibilities, gaining a deep understanding of both our technology and our customers.

Frontliners operate across a broad spectrum of responsibilities, much like a startup CTO. They work in small teams to own the end-to-end execution of high-stakes projects. This spectrum ranges from discussing architecture and building custom web apps to conducting workshops with users and strategizing with customer executives. No two days are alike, as each day is diverse and impactful. By witnessing how customers engage with Foundry and experiencing these pain points firsthand, you’ll gain unique insights that feed directly back into our development process, helping to refine and enhance our products.