Principal Software Engineer, AI Tools and Security (Seattle or SF Bay Area)
Docker · Seattle, WA
About this role
## About Docker Docker is a trusted developer tooling brand used by **20M+ monthly users** and **20B+ container image pulls**. Docker helps developers **build, share, and run** applications across products like **Docker Desktop**, **Docker Hub**, and **Docker Scout**. Docker’s **AI Tools & Security** team builds the foundation for **secure, developer-friendly AI infrastructure**. As AI agents reshape software development, Docker provides **sandboxed environments**, **verified images**, and **secure infrastructure** to make autonomous workflows trustworthy. --- ## Role: Principal Backend Engineer (AI Tools & Security) You’ll help lead the technical direction of Docker’s **MCP Gateway** and related services—empowering developers to **connect, observe, and secure AI agents and tools** across the lifecycle (from prototype to production). This is a **high-velocity, high-ownership** role where you’ll ship fast, iterate constantly, and help shape the future of **secure agent-based development**. --- ## Responsibilities - Define the technical solution for a new product - Shape the product with peers in **Product** and **Design** - Mentor other technical team members - Serve as the technical point of contact for the team - Participate in an **on-call rotation** as needed (evenings, weekends, holidays) --- ## Qualifications **Required** - **10+ years** backend engineering experience, including production-grade distributed systems at scale - Technical leadership across multiple teams/domains; ability to drive architectural vision and influence long-term strategy - Strong product/platform mindset (beyond implementation details) - Expertise designing/evolving large-scale cloud-native systems (distributed computing, service-oriented architecture, performance optimization) - Experience building secure, resilient, high-throughput backend services; reliability engineering (SLOs, observability, incident response) - Fluency in **Go (preferred)** or another modern systems language (Rust, Java, C++, etc.) - Strong software engineering fundamentals (CI/CD, testing strategy, source control, deployment automation) - Proven mentorship and cross-functional collaboration - Deep experience with major cloud platforms (**AWS, Azure, GCP**) and infrastructure-as-code - Ownership mentality with bias for action and iterative delivery - Excellent communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences - Comfortable leading through influence in remote-first teams - Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent experience **Bonus** - Experience with **Kubernetes**, **Docker**, and microservices architecture - Experience with **OpenAI**, **Anthropic**, or similar LLM APIs, and the **MCP** specification --- ## What to Expect **First 30 days** - Meet team members - Build context on the problem space and prior art - Provide feedback on current exploration and propose next steps with Product and Design **First 90 days** - Work with Product and Design on defining the product - Attend customer calls - Meet people across the company - Help grow the team via hiring loops **One-year outlook (first year)** - Bring the product to market --- ## Location & Logistics - **Seattle or SF Bay Area** - Docker considers **visa sponsorship** case-by-case based on business needs --- ## Compensation & Equity (United States) - **$198K – $319K + equity** --- ## Perks & Benefits - **Remote-first** by design (home-based; offices in Seattle and Paris for connection) - Fl
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