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Docker is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the Developer Experience team, which builds backend systems and product capabilities for Docker Scout, Docker Hardened Images, and supply-chain workflows. The role is part of a globally distributed, remote-first organization trusted by 20+ million monthly users.
You will lead ambiguous, cross-team initiatives from problem definition through measurable outcomes while remaining hands-on in code. The Developer Experience team operates a deliberately polyglot stack including Clojure, Go, Kafka, Spanner, and legacy Datomic components. You'll help the team evolve this architecture pragmatically as the product and business change.
Key responsibilities include setting technical direction for major backend initiatives, turning ambiguous problems into clear plans with staged decisions, designing and operating distributed services with strong security and reliability, leading cross-team delivery, and removing technical or organizational blockers. You'll improve observability and incident readiness across the platform, mentor senior engineers, and help establish reusable patterns and controls that preserve human accountability while leveraging AI-assisted workflows.
Success means finding high-leverage problems, creating momentum before all details are known, and bringing people with you. Within your first year, teams should deliver more confidently because you've clarified system boundaries, reduced operational risk, connected technical choices to customer outcomes, and enabled senior engineers to take on larger work.
Required qualifications include 8+ years of software engineering with demonstrated technical leadership on production systems at scale, deep experience designing and operating backend/platform systems, strong programming ability in at least one production language, and experience with distributed systems, event-driven architectures, APIs, and cloud-native infrastructure. You must have a track record of leading complex cross-team initiatives, strong technical and product judgment, evidence of influencing without authority, and an operational mindset treating observability and incident response as core engineering responsibilities. Comfort with AI-assisted tools and clear async-first communication are essential.
Helpful but not required: production experience with Go or Clojure, familiarity with Spanner/Datomic/Kafka, experience with build systems or developer tooling, platform/database strategy evolution, or security/supply-chain products.
