Staff Software Engineer, Docker AI Substrate (Seattle or Palo Alto)

Responsibilities

• Design and build the systems that deploy, release, and operate Docker's agentic platform for enterprise customers, in Go and on Kubernetes.
• Make the platform run consistently across cloud providers and environments, with the security, identity, and network boundaries enterprises require.
• Own the release and supply chain path so every deployment is reproducible, verifiable, and trusted.
• Run what you build: production ownership, on-call, SLOs, incident response, and the operational tooling that keeps it boring.
• Set technical direction with the team's architect and engineering leadership, and work with partner teams across runtime, developer experience, identity, and observability.
• Raise the bar through design review, testing discipline, and mentorship as the team grows.

Qualifications

Required

• You have built and operated a cloud control and management plane. Software that provisions, upgrades, and watches infrastructure for many tenants or environments, in production, with a pager. Experience at a cloud provider, a managed-service vendor, or a platform team that stamps out environments.
• Kubernetes beyond deployment. You have written controllers or operators, understand reconciliation and CRDs, and know why declarative beats imperative at fleet scale.
• Deep in at least one major cloud. Hands-on with compute, networking, identity, and managed services, and able to pick up a second cloud fast.
• Production ownership. On-call, incident response, SLOs, post-mortems. You run what you build.
• Distributed systems design. Fault tolerance, consistency, observability, idempotent reconciliation.
• Go. Professional proficiency. Docker's backend and all of this team's code is Go.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering in infrastructure, platform, or cloud services, with the judgment to set direction for others.

Strongly Preferred

• Kubernetes resource orchestration and cloud controllers, such as KRO.
• Release engineering and software supply chain: OCI registries, digests, license compliance.
• Private connectivity between cloud accounts: PrivateLink, VPC peering, service endpoints, egress policy.
• OpenTelemetry pipelines with multiple destinations.
• Building managed services.
• Firecracker, microVMs, or other isolated execution environments for untrusted code.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Docker considers visa sponsorship on a case-by-case basis based on business needs.

• Compensation & Equity
• United States: $170,350 - $275,550 + equity
• POSTING INFORMATION
• Open vacancy: This posting is for an existing open role.
• AI in hiring: Docker may use AI-assisted tools during our recruiting process.
• Interview recordings: Candidates will be invited to opt in to interview recordings to support interviewer calibration and consistent evaluations. Recordings are optional and require explicit consent.

Perks & Benefits

• Remote-first by design - Work from your home, with offices in Seattle and Paris for connection and collaboration.
• Flexibility that fits your life - We trust you to manage your schedule while delivering great work.
• Time to recharge - Generous PTO, designated quarterly Whaleness Days, and a designated end-of-year Whaleness break.
• Home office support - Set up your workspace for comfort and success.
• Technology stipend - Equivalent to US$100 net per month to help support your work.
• Learning & development - Annual stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and continued learning.
• Parental leave - 16 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment.
• Equity for all full-time employees - Share in Docker's long-term success as we continue to grow.
• Comprehensive benefits - Medical, retirement, and paid holidays vary by country.
• Docker swag - Because representing the whale never gets old.

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