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Principal Software Engineer, AI Tools and Security (Seattle or SF Bay Area)

Docker· Engineering
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Remote$198k - $319kFull-timePosted 11mo ago

About the role

Principal Backend Engineer leading the technical direction of Docker’s AI Tools & Security Gateway and related services, with a focus on secure, scalable, cloud-native backend systems that power AI agent-tool interactions.

Responsibilities

  • Define the technical solution for a new product
  • Help shape the product with peers in Product and Design
  • Mentor other technical team members
  • Be the technical point of contact for the team
  • This role may require participation in an on-call rotation to provide support outside of standard business hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, as needed.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of backend engineering experience, including extensive work on production-grade, distributed systems at scale.
  • Technical leadership across multiple teams or domains, with a proven ability to drive architectural vision, set technical direction, and influence long-term product strategy.
  • Exceptional product and platform mindset—you think beyond implementation details to how technology shapes developer and business outcomes.
  • Expertise in designing and evolving large-scale, cloud-native systems, with deep knowledge of distributed computing, service-oriented architecture, and performance optimization.
  • Demonstrated experience building secure, resilient, and high-throughput backend services, with a strong grasp of reliability engineering principles (SLOs, observability, incident response).
  • Fluency in Go (preferred) or another modern systems language (Rust, Java, C++, etc.), with the ability to lead technical design reviews and mentor others in language-specific best practices.
  • Strong grasp of software engineering fundamentals—CI/CD, testing strategy, source control, and deployment automation—applied in complex, multi-service environments.
  • Proven track record of technical mentorship and cross-functional collaboration, enabling teams to deliver high-impact, high-quality software efficiently.
  • Deep experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and infrastructure-as-code tooling.
  • Ownership mentality with a bias for action and iterative delivery, balancing short-term impact with long-term architectural health.
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Comfortable operating autonomously in distributed, remote-first teams, and leading through influence rather than authority.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Skills

Required:Backend engineeringCloud-native systems designGo (preferred)Security & reliability engineering

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 – US$100 net per month.
  • 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 – Representing the whale."
Last updated Aug 19, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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Accelerated Container Application Development

Docker is a platform designed to help developers build, share, and run container applications. We handle the tedious setup, so you can focus on the code.

ContainerizationDevOpsCloud InfrastructureSecurityOpen Source
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