Senior Principal Engineer, Central Ops & Systems
Job Description:
- Define and own the multi-year technical vision for Docker’s Central Operations and Systems group
- Establish strategic plans and objectives for major initiatives
- Make architectural decisions supporting Docker’s business objectives
- Translate organizational strategy into technical roadmaps spanning multiple teams and time horizons
- Identify and prioritize investments that increase productivity across employees
- Develop architectural principles and standards across Central Operations and Systems and influence product engineering teams
- Anticipate future business needs and ensure flexible platform architecture
- Lead technical vision and implementation for large cross-company programs
- Architect Docker’s SDLC “Golden Path” for building, managing, and deploying systems and software
- Drive convergence of fragmented systems through shared platform capabilities
- Establish technical contracts between platform and product teams
- Lead architectural reviews for major initiatives
- Proactively solve problems affecting critical business areas
- Define infrastructure platform vision to accelerate service deployment
- Architect standardized deployment patterns for security, scaling, monitoring, and reliability
- Design infrastructure supporting AI and agent initiatives
- Establish observability standards for distributed tracing, metrics, log aggregation, and error tracking
- Drive cost optimization across platform infrastructure
- Work with senior managers and directors to drive operations and strategy
- Mentor and develop Staff and Principal engineers
- Represent Docker’s platform architecture and AI adoption through blog posts, conference talks, and technical community engagement
- Participate in executive-level technical strategy discussions
- Drive build-versus-buy decisions for critical platform components
- Potentially participate in an on-call rotation, including evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed
- Enable product teams to launch enterprise-ready features in under two weeks
- Enable Docker teams to adopt new capabilities within two months
- Help achieve 99.9%+ uptime for business-critical workflows
- Reduce new-service deployment time to under one day
- Drive convergence of fragmented systems and reduce technical debt and operational burden
- Develop Staff and Principal engineers who can own major platform domains
Requirements:
- 12+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated expertise across multiple domains, including SDLC, AI engineering, and corporate systems
- Proven track record architecting and delivering large-scale distributed systems serving millions of users and thousands of enterprise customers
- Broad working knowledge across platform domains, with ability to make sound architectural decisions spanning multiple areas
- Expert-level understanding of API design, service architecture, and system integration patterns at scale, including in-house versus vendor-developed systems
- Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure
- Experience with modern infrastructure patterns including Kubernetes, service mesh, and infrastructure-as-code
- Knowledge of enterprise security requirements and compliance frameworks such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Track record of establishing strategic technical plans that enabled business outcomes
- Experience translating business strategy into technical architecture and roadmaps
- Ability to identify and prioritize high-leverage platform investments
- Understanding of SaaS business models and enterprise sales cycles
- Experience making build-versus-buy decisions for critical platform components
- Ability to drive large cross-company technical programs across multiple engineering organizations
- Experience working with VPs and executives to set and execute technical strategy
- Ability to influence technical direction without direct authority and build consensus
- Strong communication skills for executive presentations and organizational alignment
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and developing technical leadership
- Docker considers visa sponsorship on a case-by-case basis based on business needs
Benefits:
- Remote-first by design – Work from your home, with offices in Seattle and Paris for connection and collaboration.
- Flexibility that fits your life – Manage your schedule while delivering great work.
- Generous PTO
- Designated quarterly Whaleness Days
- Designated end-of-year Whaleness break
- Home office support
- Technology stipend equivalent to US$100 net per month
- Annual learning and development stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and continued learning
- 16 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment
- Equity for all full-time employees
- Medical benefits
- Retirement benefits
- Paid holidays, varying by country
- Docker swag
- Equity
