Staff Software Engineer, Docker AI Substrate (Seattle or Palo Alto)

The role

You will shape architecture, build core systems, and run the Docker AI Substrate platform. This involves designing and building systems to deploy, release, and operate an agentic platform for enterprise customers using Go and Kubernetes.

What you will do

• Design and build systems that deploy, release, and operate Docker's agentic platform in Go and on Kubernetes.
• Make the platform run consistently across cloud providers and environments.
• Own the release and supply chain path for reproducible and trusted deployments.
• Run what you build including production ownership, on-call, SLOs, and incident response.
• Set technical direction with the architect and engineering leadership.
• Work with partner teams across runtime, developer experience, identity, and observability.
• Raise the bar through design review, testing discipline, and mentorship.

Required qualifications

• Built and operated a cloud control and management plane in production with a pager.
• Experience with Kubernetes including writing controllers or operators, reconciliation, and CRDs.
• Deep experience in at least one major cloud including compute, networking, identity, and managed services.
• Production ownership including on-call, incident response, SLOs, and post-mortems.
• Distributed systems design including fault tolerance, consistency, observability, and idempotent reconciliation.
• Professional proficiency in Go.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering in infrastructure, platform, or cloud services.

Nice to have

• Kubernetes resource orchestration and cloud controllers, such as KRO.
• Release engineering and software supply chain: OCI registries, digests, license compliance.
• Private connectivity between cloud accounts: PrivateLink, VPC peering, service endpoints, egress policy.
• OpenTelemetry pipelines with multiple destinations.
• Building managed services.
• Firecracker, microVMs, or other isolated execution environments for untrusted code.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Benefits

• Remote-first by design
• Flexibility to manage your schedule
• 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 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, retirement, and paid holidays
• Docker swag

Before you apply

• Docker considers visa sponsorship on a case-by-case basis based on business needs.
• Docker may use AI-assisted tools during the recruiting process.
• Candidates may be invited to opt in to interview recordings.

About the company

Docker is a globally distributed, remote-first team building tools that define how software gets built and delivered. Their products include Docker Desktop, Docker Hub, and Docker Scout.