Principal Backend Engineer - AI Tools & Security

About The Company

Docker is a leading platform dedicated to simplifying app development, enabling developers to focus on innovation and quality. With a remote-first approach, Docker’s global team is united by a passion for creating exceptional developer experiences. Serving over 20 million monthly users and facilitating 20 billion image pulls, Docker is recognized as the premier tool for building, sharing, and running applications. Trusted by startups and Fortune 100 companies alike, Docker continues to grow rapidly, driving forward the future of containerization and developer tools. The company fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity, ensuring that its solutions meet the evolving needs of the developer community worldwide.

About The Role

We are seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to join Docker’s AI Tools & Security team, an innovative division focused on building secure, developer-friendly AI infrastructure. In this role, you will lead the technical direction of the MCP Gateway and related services, shaping the architecture and ensuring scalable, resilient, and secure backend systems. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including Product, Design, and Security to develop elegant APIs and frameworks that enhance developer experience and support the next generation of AI agent development. This position offers an exciting opportunity to influence the future of secure AI infrastructure, working in a high-velocity environment that values ownership, innovation, and impact. You will mentor team members, define technical solutions, and help bring innovative products to market, all while operating in a remote, globally distributed team.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of backend engineering experience, with extensive work on production-grade, distributed systems at scale
• Proven technical leadership across multiple teams or domains, with the ability to drive architectural vision and influence product strategy
• Strong product and platform mindset, understanding how technology impacts developer and business outcomes
• Expertise in designing and evolving large-scale, cloud-native systems, with deep knowledge of distributed computing, service-oriented architecture, and performance optimization
• Experience building secure, resilient, and high-throughput backend services, with a solid grasp of reliability engineering principles such as SLOs, observability, and incident response
• Fluency in Go (preferred) or other modern systems languages such as Rust, Java, or C++, with the ability to lead technical reviews and mentor others
• Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals including CI/CD, testing strategies, source control, and deployment automation in complex environments
• Proven track record of technical mentorship and cross-functional collaboration to enable high-quality software delivery
• Deep experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and infrastructure-as-code tools
• Ownership mentality with a bias for action, iterative delivery, and long-term architectural health
• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
• Comfortable working autonomously in remote, distributed teams and leading through influence rather than authority
  
  

Bonus qualifications include experience with Kubernetes, Docker, microservices architecture, and prior exposure to OpenAI, Anthropic, or similar LLM APIs, including the MCP specification.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical solution for new products, ensuring alignment with company goals and customer needs
• Collaborate with Product and Design teams to shape product features and architecture
• Mentor and guide other technical team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement
• Serve as the technical point of contact for the team, facilitating communication and technical decision-making
• Lead the design, development, and deployment of scalable, secure backend systems
• Ensure system reliability, performance, and security through best practices and monitoring
• Participate in code reviews, technical discussions, and architecture planning sessions
• Contribute to long-term technical strategy and infrastructure evolution
• Support team growth by participating in hiring processes and onboarding new engineers
• Engage with customers and stakeholders to gather feedback and incorporate it into product development
  
  

Benefits

• Flexible work arrangements to fit your lifestyle
• Designated quarterly Whaleness Days for well-being and reflection
• Home office setup stipend to ensure a comfortable remote workspace
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Technology stipend of $100 net/month to support your tools and devices
• Generous PTO policy encouraging time off for personal pursuits
• Quarterly company-wide hackathons to foster innovation and team bonding
• Training stipend for conferences, courses, and professional development
• Equity participation to share in the company's growth and success
• Docker Swag and branded merchandise
• Comprehensive medical benefits, retirement plans, and holidays (varies by country)
  
  

Equal Opportunity

Docker is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees and applicants are treated with respect and fairness. We embrace diversity in backgrounds, perspectives, and skills, believing that a more inclusive team drives better innovation and results. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. Due to the remote nature of this role, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.