Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California, +1 more state.

📋 Description

• Collaborate closely with customer engineering teams to design, develop, and deliver solutions from the initial prototype to a stable production rollout.

• Leverage existing Docker products and methodologies when feasible; innovate, prototype, and validate new solutions as required.

• Create technical documentation including custom MCP servers with Docker Sandbox environments, Docker Compose configurations, Hardened Image standardization and migration, and tools that facilitate customer progress.

• Integrate Docker's AI platform with identity providers, secrets management solutions, private and air-gapped registries, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and observability tools.

• Take ownership of technical delivery by defining project scope, sequencing tasks, balancing speed and quality, removing obstacles, and directly contributing to code.

• Convert customer security, compliance, and platform needs into actionable plans for production.

• Assist customers in establishing controls for the safe and compliant adoption of agentic AI.

• Set quality and performance benchmarks and address issues that exceed established thresholds.

• Collaborate with customer security and platform teams on architecture reviews, threat modeling, and change control processes.

• Partner with Solutions Architects on both standard and customized solutions.

• Incorporate lessons learned from implementation into reference architectures, SOW templates, and success frameworks.

• Support proofs of concept, escalation processes, and discussions regarding expansion.

• Work alongside Product and Engineering teams to integrate FDE innovations, insights, and design patterns into products and services.

• Provide data-driven feedback from customers to Product and Engineering to inform the product roadmap.

• Define the FDE engagement model, delivery standards, and quality benchmarks.

• Mentor and lead Forward Deployed Engineers and engage in hiring processes.

• Serve as a senior technical escalation point for the most challenging customer issues.

• Stay updated on LLMs, APIs, MCP, coding agents, evaluation methods, performance thresholds, and deployment strategies.

• Participate in an on-call rotation outside of standard business hours as needed.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 10 years of software engineering experience, including at least 4 years in a customer-facing technical role such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Professional Services Engineer, or Software Engineer with consulting or technical founder experience.

• Demonstrated technical leadership across multiple projects, teams, or domains, with the ability to establish delivery standards, define repeatable processes, and influence product direction through field data.

• Proficient production coding skills in Go, Python, or TypeScript.

• Proven experience in shipping and maintaining software that others rely on, along with leading technical design reviews.

• In-depth, practical Docker expertise: including Dockerfiles and multi-stage builds, Docker Compose, image and registry operations, container networking and storage, and fundamental container security.

• Practical experience building with LLMs and agents in production, including tool usage and function calling, MCP server and client implementation, prompt and context engineering, and evaluation of agent behavior.

• Familiarity with software supply chain security: SBOMs, image signing and attestation, vulnerability management, minimal and hardened base images, and secure CI/CD processes.

• Experience with enterprise system integrations: Okta, Entra ID, LDAP/Active Directory, OIDC, SAML, secrets managers, Kubernetes, and at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

• Capability to scope and execute complex tasks in ambiguous, rapidly changing customer environments, making informed trade-offs between scope, speed, and quality.

• Excellent communication skills with engineers, security and platform teams, and senior stakeholders.

• Proven ability to mentor technically and elevate the performance of engineers.

• High level of agency and comfort working independently in distributed, remote-first teams.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

• Willingness to travel to customer sites for in-person collaboration with teams, estimated at up to 50%.

• Visa sponsorship is evaluated on a case-by-case basis according to business needs.

🏝️ Benefits

• Designed for a remote-first experience — Work from home, with offices in Seattle and Paris available for connection and collaboration.

• Flexible scheduling that accommodates your lifestyle — Manage your time while delivering outstanding work.

• Generous paid time off (PTO).

• Designated quarterly Whaleness Days.

• Designated end-of-year Whaleness break.

• Support for home office setup.

• Technology stipend of US$100 net per month.

• Annual learning and development stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and ongoing education.

• 16 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment.

• Equity options for all full-time employees.

• Comprehensive medical benefits.

• Retirement benefits.

• Paid holidays.

• Docker merchandise.