Principal Technical Program Manager – Forward Deployed Engineering

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

📋 Description

• Establish FDE delivery standards, engagement models, and quality benchmarks

• Set metrics and objectives for Forward Deployed Engineering

• Transform engagement insights into reusable methodologies and product enhancements

• Update executives on status, risks, required decisions, and accountability

• Manage FDE capacity and staffing strategies

• Monitor commitments from customers and Product and Engineering teams

• Identify dependencies, highlight risks, negotiate timelines, and ensure team accountability

• Act as the representative for FDE with Product and Engineering leadership

• Enhance collaboration processes among Field, Product, and Engineering teams

• Communicate FDE outcomes and risks to executives and customer stakeholders

• Prioritize tasks for junior TPMs and provide mentorship in program management

• Choose tools and standards for monitoring FDE activities

• Define delivery standards, KPI objectives, operational reviews, and capacity planning

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in technical program management, including at least 4 years at Staff level or higher

• Experience in supporting customer-facing engineering, professional services, or field engineering teams

• Proven ability to deliver commitments on time for enterprise clients, including contractual or executive-visible deadlines

• Experience in establishing standards, quality benchmarks, and operational processes adopted by other teams

• Ability to manage dependencies across multiple engineering teams without direct management authority

• Strong technical expertise in cloud platforms, containers, and contemporary software delivery

• Proficient in selecting metrics and establishing targets with incomplete data

• Excellent executive communication skills

• High level of initiative and comfort working independently in a distributed, remote-first environment

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

• Willingness to travel occasionally to customer sites and Docker team gatherings

• Familiarity with the agentic AI ecosystem, including coding agents and Model Context Protocol (MCP)

• Experience dealing with regulated or compliance-driven clients

• Background in a developer tools, infrastructure software, or platform organization

• Familiarity with Docker products, Kubernetes, and cloud-native development environments

🏝️ Benefits

• Equity for all full-time employees

• Remote-first work environment

• Flexible work hours

• Generous paid time off (PTO)

• Designated quarterly Whaleness Days

• End-of-year Whaleness break

• Support for home office setup

• Technology allowance of US$100 net per month

• Annual stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and ongoing education

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

• Medical coverage

• Retirement benefits

• Paid holidays that vary by country

• Docker merchandise

• Offices located in Seattle and Paris for connection and collaboration