At Docker, we make app development easier so developers can focus on what matters. Our remote-first team spans the globe, united by a passion for innovation and great developer experiences. With over 20 million monthly users and 20 billion image pulls, Docker is the #1 tool for building, sharing, and running apps—trusted by startups and Fortune 100s alike. We’re growing fast and just getting started. Come join us for a whale of a ride!
Docker is seeking a Senior Principal Engineer to serve as the technical visionary and architect for our Bridge organization—the foundational platform that powers accounts, billing, data, developer tools and enterprise governance across all Docker products. This is one of the most impactful individual contributor roles at Docker, responsible for defining and driving the technical strategy that enables Docker's transformation from a collection of individual products into a unified enterprise platform capable of supporting our next phase of growth.
As Senior Principal Engineer, you will establish strategic technical plans that span multiple engineering organizations, make critical architectural decisions that affect Docker's entire product portfolio, and drive execution of cross-company programs that directly enable revenue generation. You'll work at the intersection of Accounts, Billing, Data, Platform Infrastructure, Developer Tools and Enterprise Governance, ensuring these foundational systems work together seamlessly to support Docker's business model evolution from seat-based to usage-based pricing, our expansion into AI and security products, and our growth from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of enterprise customers.
This role requires someone who combines deep technical expertise across multiple domains with the business acumen to translate Docker's commercial strategy into platform capabilities. You'll be recognized across Docker as the definitive expert on platform architecture, consulted by executives on strategic technical decisions, and responsible for ensuring that every product team can launch enterprise-ready features rapidly because the platform handles the complexity underneath.
Responsibilities
Technical Vision & Strategic Planning
- Define and own the multi-year technical vision for Docker's foundational platform, encompassing accounts, billing, data, enterprise governance, and infrastructure
- Establish strategic plans and objectives for major platform initiatives, making architectural decisions that ensure effective achievement of Docker's business objectives
- Contribute to and drive the strategic vision in collaboration with the VP of Engineering, translating organizational strategy into technical roadmaps that span multiple teams and years
- Identify and prioritize platform investments that provide maximum leverage—capabilities built once that enable rapid iteration across all Docker products
- Develop architectural principles and standards that guide technical decisions across the Bridge organization and influence product engineering teams
- Anticipate future business needs and ensure platform architecture provides the flexibility to support Docker's evolving commercial models
Cross-Company Technical Leadership
- Lead large cross-company programs that require coordination across Desktop, Hub, AI, Security, Cloud, and Platform teams
- Architect the unified platform interfaces ("Control Planes") that enable product teams to answer canonical questions like "Can this user access this feature?" or "How much has this organization consumed?" without understanding underlying complexity
- Drive convergence of fragmented systems across Docker—replacing product-specific implementations with shared platform capabilities for authentication, authorization, billing, and observability
- Establish technical contracts between platform and product teams that enable independent velocity while ensuring consistency and reliability
- Lead architectural reviews for major initiatives across Docker, ensuring alignment with platform strategy and long-term maintainability
- Proactively identify and solve problems that impact critical areas of the business before they become blockers
Billing & Monetization Platform Architecture
- Architect the Billing Control Plane that enables Docker to launch new product SKUs in weeks instead of months
- Design the Usage-Based Billing platform that supports sophisticated pricing models combining base fees, per-seat charges, consumption pricing, and volume discounts
- Ensure billing architecture supports Docker's commercial flexibility—enabling bundle pricing, enterprise contract structures, and rapid pricing experimentation
- Define the metering infrastructure where products simply report usage events and the platform handles aggregation, rating, invoicing, and revenue recognition
- Architect billing systems that scale to support Docker's growth while maintaining the accuracy and audibility that enterprise customers and finance require
Accounts & Identity Platform Architecture
- Design the metadata-driven identity platform that serves as the single source of truth for authentication, authorization, and access control across all Docker products
- Architect account infrastructure that supports Docker's enterprise requirements—domain-based account ownership, organization lifecycle management, and namespace separation
- Define the Centralized Access Control Service that becomes the standard authorization point for all Docker products, replacing fragmented team-specific solutions
- Ensure identity architecture supports both consumer simplicity and enterprise complexity—from individual developers to organizations with thousands of managed accounts
- Design migration paths that transition millions of existing users seamlessly while introducing new capabilities progressively
Enterprise Governance Platform Architecture
- Architect the Unified Internal Access Control Endpoint that abstracts entitlements, permissions, settings, policies, and feature flags into a single source of truth for all product teams
- Design the Enterprise Command Center architecture that provides consolidated administrative experience across all Docker products
- Define group management and RBAC architecture that supports global, group, and user-level policy scoping with IdP synchronization
- Architect high-volume audit logging infrastructure and observability platform that meets enterprise compliance requirements (SOC 2, ISO 27001) and integrates with enterprise SIEM tools
- Ensure governance architecture enables Docker to launch any new product "enterprise-ready" from day one with baseline governance controls
Data Platform Architecture
- Define canonical data models that serve as the foundation for analytics, reporting, and machine learning across Docker
- Architect real-time streaming infrastructure that enables immediate reactions to customer behavior—usage spikes, security anomalies, expansion opportunities
- Design self-service data capabilities that democratize access while maintaining governance and accuracy
- Ensure data architecture supports both operational needs (real-time dashboards, alerts) and analytical needs (business intelligence, forecasting)
- Drive convergence to eliminate conflicting metrics that undermine trust in business decisions
Infrastructure & Developer Experience Architecture
- Define the infrastructure platform vision that removes infrastructure as a bottleneck to innovation—enabling teams to deploy experimental services in minutes, not weeks
- Architect standardized deployment patterns that encode best practices for security, scaling, monitoring, and reliability
- Design infrastructure that specifically supports AI and agent initiatives—rapid deployment, programmatic environment creation, consistent APIs
- Establish observability standards that provide distributed tracing, metrics, log aggregation, and error tracking out of the box for every service
- Drive cost optimization across platform infrastructure while maintaining performance and reliability standards
Technical Excellence & Influence
Qualifications
Required
Technical Expertise
- 15+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated expertise across multiple platform domains (identity, billing, data, infrastructure)
- Proven track record architecting and delivering large-scale distributed systems serving millions of users and thousands of enterprise customers
- Deep expertise in at least two of: identity/access management systems, billing/monetization platforms, data platforms, or cloud infrastructure
- Broad working knowledge across all 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
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and modern infrastructure patterns (Kubernetes, service mesh, infrastructure-as-code)
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Strategic & Business Impact
- Track record of establishing strategic technical plans that directly enabled business outcomes (revenue growth, cost reduction, market expansion)
- Experience translating business strategy into technical architecture and roadmaps
- Demonstrated ability to identify and prioritize investments that provide maximum platform leverage
- Understanding of SaaS business models, enterprise sales cycles, and how platform capabilities influence commercial success
- Experience making build-vs-buy decisions for critical platform components
Leadership & Influence
- Proven ability to drive large cross-company technical programs requiring coordination across multiple engineering organizations
- Experience working with VPs and executives to set and execute technical strategy
- Track record of influencing technical direction without direct authority—building consensus across teams with different priorities
- Strong communication skills with ability to present to executives, influence leadership, and drive alignment at all levels
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and developing technical leadership
Enterprise Platform Experience
- Experience building platforms that serve enterprise customers with complex governance and compliance requirements
- Knowledge of enterprise security requirements, compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001), and their architectural implications
- Experience with identity federation (OIDC, SAML, SCIM) and enterprise SSO integration at scale
- Understanding of enterprise billing complexity—contract management, usage-based pricing, revenue recognition
Preferred
- Experience at developer tools, infrastructure software, or B2B SaaS companies at significant scale
- Background with container technologies, Docker, Kubernetes, or developer productivity platforms
- Experience building billing platforms that support multiple pricing models (seat-based, consumption, hybrid)
- Track record of successfully migrating legacy systems while maintaining business continuity
- Experience with data platform architecture including real-time streaming, data warehousing, and analytics
- Knowledge of FinOps and infrastructure cost optimization at scale
- Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field
- External recognition as a technical leader (conference speaking, publications, open source contributions)
Key Success Metrics
Platform Leverage & Velocity
- Product teams can launch enterprise-ready features in
- New product SKUs can be created and launched in weeks instead of months through Billing Control Plane
- Single unified access control endpoint replaces 5+ fragmented APIs that product teams currently integrate
Business Enablement
- Platform architecture directly enables $10M+ in enterprise revenue through governance capabilities that unblock deals
- Usage-based billing platform supports new AI and cloud product monetization models
- Billing accuracy and flexibility supports complex enterprise contract structures that Sales requires
Technical Excellence
- Platform systems achieve 99.9%+ uptime for business-critical workflows
- Canonical data models eliminate conflicting metrics that undermine business decisions
- Infrastructure platform reduces deployment time for new services from 2-4 weeks to
Organizational Impact
- Recognized across Docker as the definitive technical authority on platform architecture
- Successfully drive convergence of fragmented systems, reducing technical debt and operational burden
- Develop multiple Staff and Principal engineers who can own major platform domains
Docker considers sponsorship on a case-by-case basis based on business needs.
We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on April 13, 2024.
Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here.
Perks
- Freedom & flexibility; fit your work around your life
- Designated quarterly Whaleness Days plus end of year Whaleness break
- Home office setup; we want you comfortable while you work
- 16 weeks of paid Parental leave
- Technology stipend equivalent to $100 net/month
- PTO plan that encourages you to take time to do the things you enjoy
- Training stipend for conferences, courses and classes
- Equity; we are a growing start-up and want all employees to have a share in the success of the company
- Docker Swag
- Medical benefits, retirement and holidays vary by country
- Remote-first culture, with offices in Seattle and Paris
Docker embraces diversity and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our company will be.
