Principal Software Engineer, Developer Tools

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Define the long-term technical vision and architecture for Docker's developer tooling platform, which encompasses platform engineering, CI/CD, and AI-powered tools.

• Take the lead in drafting SDLC principles in collaboration with other principal engineers, Security, and Infrastructure, and develop the mechanisms these principles bind to, such as design gates, code review gates, pipeline standards, and visibility.

• Establish architectural patterns, technical standards, and best practices throughout the developer tooling stack.

• Design highly available and scalable infrastructure for hosting developer tools, agents, and platform services.

• Drive technical decisions concerning tooling selections, provider strategies, build/deploy substrates, and agent orchestration frameworks.

• Collaborate with the Senior Manager and product leadership to ensure technical architecture aligns with business goals and productization opportunities.

• Architect and develop Docker's internal developer platform, a self-service substrate that enables teams to scaffold, deploy, and operate services with minimal friction.

• Design and implement CI/CD and build infrastructure that supports Docker's SDLC principles and GitOps deployment patterns.

• Establish standards for reliability, security, and performance across developer tooling, including SLOs, monitoring, incident response, and cost management.

• Create integration points between developer tools and existing infrastructure, such as CI/CD pipelines, observability platforms, and deployment systems.

• Assess emerging technologies within developer tooling, platform engineering, AI/LLM, and agent frameworks to guide Docker's technical strategy.

• Define and enforce the golden path, detailing how Docker builds software, and pinpoint where tools bridge gaps versus where human processes are necessary.

• Drive technical standards for evaluating developer tool effectiveness, including adoption metrics, productivity enhancements, pipeline performance, and developer satisfaction.

• Lead cross-functional technical discussions that influence the overarching developer tooling architecture across the company.

• Define the technical approach for transforming successful internal developer tools into customer-facing offerings.

• Mentor senior and staff engineers on platform engineering, CI/CD patterns, design, and AI/LLM integration.

• Oversee design reviews and technical decision-making for all developer tooling initiatives.

• Promote a culture of technical excellence, experimentation, and rapid prototyping within the Developer Tools team.

• Serve as the primary technical contact and thought leader for developer tooling across Docker's engineering organization.

• Collaborate with platform teams (Infrastructure, Security, Agentic Platform, Supply Chain Security) to establish shared technical standards and integration patterns.

⛳️ Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in Staff or Principal Engineer roles.

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

• Proven success in architecting and managing developer-facing platforms, internal tools, or developer productivity systems at scale.

• Extensive expertise in CI/CD systems, build infrastructure, and GitOps deployment patterns.

• Production experience with cloud-native infrastructure, including Kubernetes, observability systems (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki), and deployment tools.

• Experience in designing self-service platforms, developer portals, or golden path tooling that empower other teams to work more efficiently.

• Working knowledge of AI/ML technologies and hands-on experience with LLM APIs or AI agent development.

• Proficiency in programming languages such as Go (preferred), Rust, Java, or Python, coupled with strong software engineering fundamentals.

• Exceptional product and platform mindset, considering developer experience, business outcomes, and technical/security trade-offs.

• Strong communication abilities, capable of influencing both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Documented history of technical mentorship and enhancing engineering teams' capabilities.

• Ownership mentality with a proactive approach and iterative delivery in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.

• Comfort with autonomous work in distributed, remote-first teams across various time zones.

• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar AI agent integration standards (preferred).

• Background in DevOps, SRE, or platform engineering domains (preferred).

• Contributions to open source projects related to developer tooling, platform engineering, or observability (preferred).

• Experience in productizing internal platforms into commercial offerings (preferred).

• In-depth knowledge of security, compliance, and operational best practices for production systems (preferred).

• Experience with infrastructure-as-code frameworks (Terraform, Pulumi) and multi-cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) (preferred).

• Proven track record in promoting organization-wide adoption of developer tooling and engineering standards (preferred).

🏝️ Benefits

• Freedom & flexibility; tailor your work around your life.

• Designated quarterly Whaleness Days and an end-of-year Whaleness break.

• Home office setup; we prioritize your comfort while you work.

• 16 weeks of paid parental leave (post 6 months of employment).

• Technology stipend equivalent to $100 USD net/month.

• PTO plan that encourages you to take time for activities you enjoy.

• Training stipend for conferences, courses, and classes.

• Equity; as a growing start-up, we want all employees to share in the company's success.

• Docker Swag.

• Medical benefits, retirement plans, and holidays vary by country.

• Remote-first culture, with offices located in Seattle and Paris.