Principal Software Engineer, Developer Tools - Docker

About Docker

Docker has been one of the most loved brands in developer tooling, trusted by more than 20 million monthly users and over 20 billion container image pulls. Developers rely on Docker to build, share, and run their applications across Docker Desktop, Docker Hub, and Docker Scout.

We are a globally distributed, remote-first team building the tools that define how software gets built and delivered. As AI agents redefine software development, Docker provides the sandboxed environments, verified images, and secure infrastructure that make autonomous workflows trustworthy by default.

The Role

Docker seeks a Principal Software Engineer to define the technical vision and architecture for our internal Developer Tools team. With the addition of AI, we are modernizing our SDLC and building mechanisms that make the right way the easy way for every engineer.

You'll own the technical strategy across four interconnected pillars:

• Platform Engineering & Self-Service: Design and build the internal developer platform that empowers teams across Docker to unblock themselves, rapidly scaffolding, prototyping, deploying, and operating their own services and tools.
• CI/CD & Build Systems: Define Docker's technical approach to continuous integration, delivery, and build infrastructure. Establish architectural standards for pipeline tooling, GitOps deployment patterns, build substrate, and release engineering.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Define the long-term technical vision and architecture for Docker's developer tooling platform spanning platform engineering, CI/CD, and AI-powered tools.
• Lead authoring of SDLC tenets in partnership with other principal engineers, Security, and Infrastructure, building the mechanisms those tenets bind to.
• Establish architectural patterns, technical standards, and best practices across the developer tooling stack.
• Design highly available, scalable infrastructure for hosting developer tools, agents, and platform services.
• Drive technical decisions on tooling choices, provider strategies, build/deploy substrate, and agent orchestration frameworks.

Systems Design & Implementation

• Architect and build Docker's internal developer platform, the self-service substrate enabling teams to scaffold, deploy, and operate services with minimal friction.
• Design and implement CI/CD and build infrastructure supporting Docker's SDLC tenets and GitOps deployment patterns.
• Establish reliability, security, and performance standards across developer tooling including SLOs, monitoring, incident response, and cost management.

Strategic Impact & Innovation

• Evaluate emerging technologies across developer tooling, platform engineering, AI/LLM, and agent frameworks.
• Define and enforce the golden path for how Docker builds software.
• Drive technical standards for measuring developer tool effectiveness: adoption metrics, productivity gains, pipeline performance, and developer satisfaction.

Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor senior and staff engineers on platform engineering, CI/CD patterns, design, and AI/LLM integration.
• Lead design reviews and technical decision-making across all developer tooling work.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, experimentation, and rapid prototyping.

Qualifications

Required:

• 10+ years software engineering experience with 3+ years in Staff or Principal Engineer roles.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven track record architecting and operating developer-facing platforms, internal tools, or developer productivity systems at scale.
• Deep 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 tooling.
• Experience designing self-service platforms, developer portals, or golden path tooling.
• Working knowledge of AI/ML technologies and hands-on experience with LLM APIs or AI agent development.
• Proficiency in Go (preferred), Rust, Java, or Python with strong software engineering fundamentals.
• Exceptional product and platform mindset considering developer experience, business outcomes, and technical/security trade-offs.
• Strong communication skills with ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred:

• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar AI agent integration standards.
• Background in DevOps, SRE, or platform engineering domains.
• Contributions to open source developer tooling, platform engineering, or observability projects.
• Experience productizing internal platforms into commercial offerings.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code frameworks (Terraform, Pulumi) and multi-cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).