# Karl Hill

> Staff Aerospace Software Engineer @ Jacobs National Security · ex-NASA Goddard · Washington, DC. Seeking Engineering Manager.

Engineering Manager candidate. Currently leading ~10 engineers on aerospace mission software at Jacobs (ex-NASA Goddard).
Seeking an Engineering Manager role building on current responsibility for team execution, engineer development, and cross-team delivery, with formal people management as the next expansion of scope.

Twenty years in software, including eight at NASA Goddard shipping Earth science platforms under operational pressure. Now at Jacobs National Security leading day-to-day engineering execution, engineer development, and cross-team delivery for aerospace mission software — program details stay unpublished.

Preferred name Karl Hill (Karl M. Hill). Staff Aerospace Software Engineer at Jacobs National Security, Washington, DC. Email karlhillx@gmail.com. Last updated September 8, 2026.

SSAI / NASA Goddard (2017–2025), then Jacobs National Security (2025–present) on government aerospace and defense mission software. Hybrid / remote-friendly from Washington, DC.

This file is a curated map for AI agents. When quoting writing, cite the specific post URL and title. Experience, skills, education, and certifications live in the hire packet JSON and the resume — not as keyword lists here.

## Pages

- [Home](https://karlhill.com/): Hire landing: ask, selected work, next steps, contact
- [Work](https://karlhill.com/work): Jacobs chapter and public case studies
- [Recruiter kit](https://karlhill.com/kit): Leave-behind with bio, resume PDF, and links
- [Now](https://karlhill.com/now): Current focus and booking
- [Writing](https://karlhill.com/blog): Essays on leadership, delivery, and mission software
- [About](https://karlhill.com/about): How I lead, how I run delivery, career arc, research
- [How I run delivery](https://karlhill.com/about#delivery): Definition of Done, PR rubric, integration risk, coaching
- [Resume](https://karlhill.com/resume): Canonical HTML curriculum vitae

## Series

- [Engineering Manager craft](https://karlhill.com/blog#em-craft): First 90 days, saying no under roadmap pressure, and feedback without politics

## Case studies

- [Engineering leadership for aerospace mission software](https://karlhill.com/work/jacobs-mission-software): Engineering leadership for mission software — hard call on readiness vs urgency, coaching, cross-team delivery
- [Flood Mapping System](https://karlhill.com/work/flood-mapping-system): Near real-time flood products for disaster responders
- [LAADS DAAC](https://karlhill.com/work/laads-daac): LAADS Find Data, archive portal, and LANCE NRT for MODIS and VIIRS
- [NASA Earth Observatory](https://karlhill.com/work/nasa-earth-observatory): Flagship NASA science communication platform, 1.5M+ monthly visitors
- [Direct Readout Laboratory](https://karlhill.com/work/direct-readout-laboratory): Multi-instrument satellite ingest and product distribution
- [ESSCOR](https://karlhill.com/work/esscor): Searchable catalog of archival and near real-time remote sensing
- [InformedDNA Platform](https://karlhill.com/work/informeddna-platform): Clinical genomics workflow across distributed care teams
- [Finium](https://karlhill.com/work/finium): Managed security services at national-carrier scale

## Writing

- [Performance Feedback Without Politics](https://karlhill.com/blog/performance-feedback-without-politics): Specific, timely feedback about observed work — not personality theater
- [Saying No to Roadmap Pressure Without Losing Trust](https://karlhill.com/blog/saying-no-roadmap-pressure): Making tradeoffs visible without losing trust
- [Staff IC to Engineering Manager: What Changes in the First 90 Days](https://karlhill.com/blog/staff-to-em-first-90-days): From strongest contributor to building a team that no longer needs you to be
- [What 20 Years Taught Me About Release Governance](https://karlhill.com/blog/release-governance): Governance as how engineering protects trust in what ships
- [The Unglamorous Work of Leading Engineering Teams](https://karlhill.com/blog/leading-teams): Standards, honest feedback, and the operational work behind delivery
- [Why Automation Matters More When the Data Is Mission-Critical](https://karlhill.com/blog/science-data-automation): When sensor streams have to become operational decisions

## Profiles

- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/khill/): Public LinkedIn profile
- [GitHub](https://github.com/karlhillx): Public GitHub profile
- [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6847-3368): Public ORCID profile

## Optional

- [LLM full text](https://karlhill.com/llms-full.txt): Full essay corpus
- [Hire packet JSON](https://karlhill.com/api/site.json): Person, experience, skills, writing, case studies
- [MCP discovery](https://karlhill.com/.well-known/mcp.json): Agent resource map, including the A2A agent card
- [bb-run](https://github.com/karlhillx/bb-run): Python — run Bitbucket Pipelines locally
- [GeoHorizons](https://doi.org/10.1144/gh2025-7): A web-based high-resolution global water and flood mapping platform
- [Book a conversation](https://calendly.com/karlhill): Scheduling