The salary range is a guideline and actual starting compensation will be determined by location, level, skills, and experience.

At Docker, we make app development easier so developers can focus on what matters. Our remote-first team spans the globe, united by a passion for innovation and great developer experiences. With over 20 million monthly users and 20 billion image pulls, Docker is the #1 tool for building, sharing, and running apps—trusted by startups and Fortune 100s alike. We’re growing fast and just getting started. Come join us for a whale of a ride!

Docker is building AI Cloud, the next evolution of our developer platform—a unified, multi-cloud service that seamlessly connects local development with global-scale deployment. Docker’s AI Cloud extends the power of Docker Desktop and Hub into the cloud, enabling developers to build, ship, and run applications securely and efficiently.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will define the technical vision and lead the design and implementation of Docker AI Cloud’s distributed systems. As a key member of the AI Cloud leadership team, you will partner with principal engineers across the company to architect scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure that supports millions of developers and thousands of enterprises.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Define and drive the long-term technical strategy for Docker AI Cloud’s control and data plane services

• Architect highly available, multi-region systems capable of operating seamlessly across multiple cloud providers

• Design APIs and service abstractions that integrate Docker Desktop, Hub, and enterprise cloud services

• Establish standards for reliability, scalability, and observability across the Docker AI Cloud platform

• Lead cross-functional technical discussions and influence architectural decisions company-wide

Systems Design & Implementation

• Design and implement distributed systems for workload orchestration, service discovery, and lifecycle management

• Build and operate control plane components that manage multi-tenant workloads and cloud networking

• Develop infrastructure that delivers predictable performance, intelligent scaling, and automated failover

• Ensure security, data integrity, and compliance across Docker’s global infrastructure footprint

• Partner with platform and product teams to deliver developer-friendly APIs and cloud experiences

Strategic Impact

• Align technical direction with Docker’s business objectives for cloud growth and developer platform unification

• Evaluate emerging technologies (e.g., service meshes, container orchestration, edge computing) and guide adoption

• Drive initiatives that reduce latency, optimize cost, and improve cross-cloud performance

• Define metrics and SLAs for Docker AI Cloud’s reliability and scalability

Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor senior, staff and principal engineers, fostering technical excellence and growth across teams

• Lead design reviews and guide critical production system decisions

• Drive a culture of operational excellence, ownership, and innovation

• Collaborate with engineering and product leadership to align priorities and resource planning

Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years in technical leadership roles (Staff or Principal level)

• Proven experience designing and building highly scalable distributed systems in production environments

• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP, or OCI), including compute, networking, and storage primitives

• Proficiency in Go, Rust, or Java

• Expertise in Kubernetes, microservices, and service mesh architectures

• Strong foundation in observability, CI/CD, and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi, or CloudFormation)

• Experience operating high-availability (99.99%+) production systems

• Exceptional communication skills and ability to influence across technical and business domains

Preferred

• Experience designing multi-cloud or cross-cloud abstractions and orchestration layers

• Knowledge of container lifecycle management, networking, and policy enforcement

• Prior experience in developer infrastructure, PaaS, or hyperscale SaaS environments

Background contributing to open source or developer-focused platforms is a plus

We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on April 13, 2024.

Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here.

Perks

• Freedom & flexibility; fit your work around your life

• Designated quarterly Whaleness Days

• Home office setup; we want you comfortable while you work

• 16 weeks of paid Parental leave

• Technology stipend equivalent to $100 net/month

• PTO plan that encourages you to take time to do the things you enjoy

• Quarterly, company-wide hackathons

• Training stipend for conferences, courses and classes

• Equity; we are a growing start-up and want all employees to have a share in the success of the company

• Docker Swag

• Medical benefits, retirement and holidays vary by country

Docker embraces diversity and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our company will be.

Due to the remote nature of this role, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

#LI-REMOTE

Compensation Range: $232K - $319K