Docker has been one of the most loved brands in developer tooling, trusted by more than 20 million monthly users and over 20 billion container image pulls. From solo founders to the world's largest companies, developers rely on Docker to build, share, and run their applications across our suite of products including Docker Desktop, Docker Hub, and Docker Scout.
We are a globally distributed, remote-first team building the tools that define how software gets built and delivered. As AI agents redefine software development, Docker is at the center of that shift, providing the sandboxed environments, verified images, and secure infrastructure that make autonomous workflows trustworthy by default.
The Secure Build team builds and operates the infrastructure behind Docker's container builds. The team owns and runs Docker Build Cloud and Docker's Hub build systems, which run millions of builds a year for hundreds of organisations, and is building the next generation of that: secure, sandboxed CI that isolates each build step and produces hardened images with strong, verifiable provenance, including for customers in regulated and air-gapped environments. A current focus is a hardened build runner that executes each workflow step inside its own micro-VM sandbox.
We're looking for an Engineering Manager to lead this team. It's a small, very senior group that recently came together, with strong technical leadership spread across it. You'll own the team's delivery, growth, and operational excellence, keep its high-scale production systems healthy, and be a real part of setting the team's technical direction alongside the engineers who lead on different parts of the system.
The kind of person we're looking for
The successful candidate leads first. They're an experienced engineering manager at their best turning a senior team into a high-performing, value-delivering part of the wider Docker org: getting the process and team mechanics right, partnering well with Product, and navigating the personalities on and around the team. What sets them apart is that they stay deep in the technical work rather than steering from a distance. They're active in technical design and in the PRs, they help shape the technical direction, and they're happy to pick up code where it moves things forward. We're not after a 50-50 player-coach, and we're not after someone who's left the engineering behind either; the balance tilts to leading, but they're hands-on enough to be properly in the detail with the team. The team has strong technical leadership across it, and direction is set together rather than by any one person, so this isn't about being the best engineer in the room or the deepest supply-chain-security expert. It's about being engaged and credible enough to be a real part of how the team sets its direction, not standing apart from it. They care about security broadly: how modern attacks actually work, the OWASP Top 10, and where a build pipeline is exposed. They lead through judgement, unblocking, and direction-setting rather than process for its own sake, because that's what a senior, autonomy-heavy team responds to. They're comfortable owning the operational reality of production systems and on-call, and they're energised rather than thrown by ambiguity. Above all they care about growing the engineers around them and shipping something customers actually trust.
Responsibilities:
Lead a team of senior engineers operating Docker Build Cloud and Hub's build systems and building Docker's next generation of secure build infrastructure.
Own delivery: turn an ambiguous, high-stakes roadmap, including time-bound commitments to regulated and federal customers, into a concrete plan the team can execute predictably.
Get the team's process and mechanics right, and partner closely with Product to turn strategy into a roadmap the team believes in.
Stay deep in the technical work: active in design discussions and code review, hands-on in the code where it helps, rather than steering from a distance.
Be a real part of setting the team's technical direction, working with the engineers who lead on different parts of the system, while giving the whole team room to own technical decisions.
This role may require participation in an on-call rotation to provide support outside of standard business hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, as needed.
Be accountable for the reliability and operational excellence of the team's production services, including a healthy, humane on-call rotation.
Own the growth, development, and performance of each engineer on the team, and hire to strengthen it.
Work across the wider org - Product, sales, commercial and legal, the Hub/registry team, and security - to align the team and shield it from churn.
Hold a high bar for engineering excellence and raise the team's security hygiene.
Qualifications
5+ years managing high-performing engineering teams, including engineers at or above their own level of technical seniority, with a track record of growing and retaining senior individual contributors.
8+ years of professional, hands-on, full-time software engineering experience in backend, infrastructure, or platform engineering.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
A leader first: strong on team process and mechanics, on partnering with Product, and on reading and navigating the personalities on and around a team to make it more than the sum of its parts.
Comfortable inheriting a team they didn't build: earning the trust of experienced engineers, and owning the full range of performance conversations, including the difficult ones, fairly and directly.
Technically deep and still hands-on: recent enough engineering chops to be active in design and code review, be a real part of setting technical direction with the team, and write code where it helps. Not the best engineer in the room or the deepest domain expert, but not a manager who's left the technical detail behind either.
A strong interest in security: how recent attacks have actually worked, the OWASP Top 10, and the build threat model. Familiarity with software supply chain security (SLSA, in-toto, provenance, signing such as cosign, SBOMs, vulnerability scanning) is valued, but we care more about security instinct and appetite than a checklist of tools.
Understanding of CI/CD and build-system internals, container images and image hardening, and OCI registry mechanics.
Experience operating production infrastructure: on-call, incident response, SLOs, and the realities of keeping high-traffic services healthy.
Comfortable leading a distributed, remote-first team across European and US time zones, with a high degree of autonomy.
Strong written and verbal communication, and a habit of staying close to customers.
Hands-on familiarity with Go is a plus; it's the team's primary language.
What to expect
First 30 days
Get to know the team, the systems, and the commitments before changing anything. Build relationships with each engineer, understand the roadmap and what the team is building, and get hands-on enough with Build Cloud and the inherited systems to understand the on-call load you're taking on.
First 90 days.
Own the delivery plan with the team and Product. Get the on-call rotation to a healthy, sustainable place. Be the team's point of contact across the wider org.
One year Outlook
The team is delivering against its roadmap and operating its production systems reliably, the on-call and delivery cadence are sustainable, and the team is growing both in capability and in number.
Docker considers visa sponsorship on a case-by-case basis based on business needs.
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 (after 6 months of employment)
Technology stipend equivalent to $100 USD 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.
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