Company details

HEADCOUNT

25-99

ORG TYPE

Startup

SECTOR

Technology & Digital

WEBSITE

https://www.blackshark.ai

About the company

Blackshark.ai builds geospatial AI that turns satellite and aerial imagery into machine-readable “digital twin” outputs, including large-scale 3D environments and object detection. The company is widely known for powering photorealistic building generation used in Microsoft Flight Simulator, alongside products like ORCA HUNTR and SYNTH3D. Blackshark.ai sells into demanding use cases that include defense, intelligence, government, and enterprise deployments, including environments that can be cloud, on-prem, or air-gapped. Public funding coverage includes a $20M round in 2021 and a later Series A extension taking the round total to $35M.

Locations and presence

Blackshark.ai is anchored in Graz, Austria, with additional listed locations in Burlingame, California and Zagreb, Croatia. Many roles are remote, but some postings require working within European hours and some roles are hybrid in Graz.

Palpable Score

54.4

/ 100

Blackshark.ai is stronger than many startups on pay transparency for Austria-based roles and uses a consistent application platform, which helps early-career candidates avoid guessing games. The score is pulled down by a lack of true 0–2 year entry roles and mixed public signals on people outcomes like churn and job security.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

5.3

/ 20

The company’s current openings are specialist roles like Software Engineer (Data Plane), Platform Engineer (Deployment), and Machine Learning Engineer, with no “Junior”, “Associate”, internship, or graduate-track roles visible.
Blackshark.ai’s engineering postings ask for production-grade capability in areas like distributed pipelines, Kubernetes, and geospatial tooling, which is not framed as a first-job ramp.
The company has a People Operations opening (Office Manager part-time, on-site Graz), but that does not create a broader early-career hiring pipeline across functions.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

13.8

/ 20

The company runs hiring through a single ATS (Lever) with clear team labels, work modes (remote, hybrid, on-site), and role scope sections.
Blackshark.ai publishes minimum salary figures on multiple roles (for example, €56,000 and €60,000 minimums), which is rare and helpful for candidate fairness.
The company has mixed candidate-reported interview experiences on public platforms, including both organized multi-stage processes with feedback and reports of no-shows or non-response.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

12.7

/ 20

The company frames roles around working alongside ML engineers, GIS specialists, and 3D graphics engineers on novel problems, which can create strong on-the-job learning for someone with a solid base.
Blackshark.ai advertises “learning opportunities” and a “strong technical culture” inside role pages, and several roles describe cross-team collaboration as core to delivery.
The company does not publicly describe onboarding, mentoring, buddy systems, or a structured early-career ramp, which makes support harder to validate before joining.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

14.6

/ 20

The company discloses minimum pay for roles under Austrian legislation and states compensation can be higher based on experience, giving candidates a concrete floor.
Blackshark.ai lists benefits themes in postings including healthcare, mental wellbeing programs, flexible working arrangements, and learning support.
The company does not consistently publish full salary bands, equity specifics, or a consolidated benefits page that makes comparisons easy for early-career candidates.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

8.0

/ 20

The company has a modest but usable Glassdoor footprint (double-digit reviews) with mixed themes, including both “challenging projects” and concerns about strategy clarity and management dynamics.
Blackshark.ai has at least one recent review alleging frequent terminations and uncertainty, which is a meaningful negative signal for early-career stability even if not universally reported.
The company lacks public early-career outcome proof such as intern-to-full-time conversion, junior promotion stories, or clear retention patterns over 12–24 months.