Principal Software Engineer, Docker Agents (London)

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. We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer (Docker Agents) to join Docker’s AI engineering team to build the future of containerized AI agents. Docker containers are the perfect vehicle to host and run AI agents - providing isolation, portability, and reproducibility. You’ll be working on Docker Agent, our open-source project (https://github.com/docker/docker-agent) and expanding on it to enable developers to build, deploy, and scale intelligent agents using Docker’s container technology. This is a greenfield opportunity to shape how developers leverage containers for AI agents at massive scale. You’ll define the technical vision, lead architecture decisions, and partner with engineers and leaders across Docker to bring containerized agent capabilities into Docker’s developer experience. Please note: this role is only available to candidates currently located in London (or reasonable commuting distance to London), we are unable to make exceptions to this location requirement. The role is a remote-first, very flexible hybrid work environment. RESPONSIBILITIES - Technical Leadership & Architecture: Define and drive the long-term technical strategy for Docker’s containerized agent platform, including core primitives, APIs, and extensibility patterns - Build Containerized Agent Systems: Design and implement systems that leverage Docker containers as the ideal runtime for AI agents, ensuring isolation, scalability, and portability - Expand Docker Agent: Maintain and evolve the open-source cagent project, adding new capabilities for containerized agent deployment, orchestration, and lifecycle management - Agent Runtime Development: Build robust infrastructure for packaging, deploying, and managing agents in containers across local and cloud environments - Evaluation & Testing: Define evaluation frameworks to measure agent quality, reliability, and production readiness; plus the deployment effectiveness of containerized runtimes - Reliability & Operability: Establish standards for observability, performance, and operational excellence; lead critical production decision-making and incident learnings as needed - Rapid Prototyping: Iterate quickly on new agent capabilities and deployment patterns, moving from concept to production efficiently - Open Source Community: Engage with the Docker Agent community, review contributions, and help grow the ecosystem - Cross-functional Collaboration: Lead cross-functional technical discussions and influence architectural decisions across Docker’s AI initiatives (including sister teams and platform efforts) - Mentorship & Enablement: Mentor senior engineers, raise the bar through design reviews, and accelerate team execution through clear technical direction and coaching - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience - 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. QUALIFICATIONS - 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years in technical leadership roles (Staff/Principal level or equivalent scope) - Go Expertise: Strong proficiency in Go is highly desired (if you're not proficient, then we will look for your ability/willingness to ramp up and work in Go - this is Docker's primary language for backend systems) - AI/ML Knowledge: Practical experience with large language models (LLMs) and agent development patterns; hands-on experience using AI for Software development - System Architecture: Proven ability to design scalable, distributed systems in production environments - Container Technology: Deep understanding of Docker, containerization best practices, and container orchestration - Cloud/Platform Depth: Experience building and operating platform services with strong foundations in observability, CI/CD, and security principles - Operational Excellence: Experience operating and evolving high-availability production systems with a focus on reliability and performance - Influence & Communication: Exceptional communication skills and ability to influence across technical and business domains - AI Frameworks: Experience with Cre