Senior Engineering Manager, Docker
Local Runtime
$197.7-318.3k
Salary applicable for US candidates, may vary in other locations + Equity
More information about location
App development platform
Be an early applicant
App development platform
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$197.7-318.3k
Salary applicable for US candidates, may vary in other locations + Equity
More information about location
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To increase the time developers spend on innovation, and decrease the time they spend on everything else.
Role
Who you are
- The successful candidate is a hands-on systems engineer at heart. They have worked deep in the stack—hypervisors, container runtimes, OS internals, kernel development—and use that experience to guide their team to sound architectural decisions and a high engineering bar
- They are skilled at growing and retaining senior individual contributors, thrive in a remote-first environment, and bring the same curiosity and craft to engineering leadership that they once brought to the code itself
- They stay close to customers—not because they're told to, but because they know that the gap between elegant internals and something people actually trust is where the real work happens
- 5+ years experience managing high-performing engineering teams
- 5+ years of hands-on systems programming experience (hypervisors, container runtimes, OS internals, kernel development, or similar low-level infrastructure)
- Deep understanding of virtualization concepts: VMMs, hypervisors, and hardware-assisted virtualization
- Experience with container runtimes (OCI, containerd, runc) or equivalent low-level infrastructure
- Cross-platform systems experience across two or more of: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Comfortable with a high degree of autonomy and the ability to work remotely across time zones
What the job involves
- The Runtime team is building Docker's runtime for AI workloads—a cross-platform foundation that delivers strong isolation and enterprise governance at every layer
- The team owns a custom VMM, a full container stack, and deep OS integration across Windows, macOS, and Linux. This technology is the core of Docker's new sbx product, which enables AI agents and workloads to run safely and at scale
- In this role, you would manage this team, owning its technical direction and delivery and being accountable for its operational excellence
- Lead a team of 6–10 engineers building Docker's cross-platform runtime across Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Own the technical direction and roadmap
- Partner closely with product management to align the team with business and product goals
- Ensure predictable delivery and operational excellence across the components the team ships
- Hire and retain top systems engineering talent
- Hold a high bar for engineering excellence
- Facilitate communication across teams and provide status reporting for critical projects
- First 30 days:
- Understand the group and team missions
- Meet the team along with peers across the group and the company
- Start line managing reports and building a rapport
- Gain a high-level understanding of the runtime architecture: the VMM, container stack, and how they fit together across platforms
- Participate in status reporting and reliability reviews
- First 90 Days:
- Work with the team to align on goals and measures of success
- Start career discussions with reports
- Work with the team to improve processes and remove blockers
- Contribute technical input to roadmap and architectural decisions
- Oversee the delivery of a change or feature
- Start hiring for the team (if needed)
- One Year Outlook (First Year):
- Drive the long-term technical direction of the runtime across all supported platforms
- Have had a sustained, positive impact on the growth and performance of your reports
- Shipped meaningful improvements to the cross-platform runtime that developers rely on every day
Application process
- 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
Our take
Docker supplies a hub and desktop solution to simplify the workflow of app development teams. Originally known for popularising the idea of containerising software, it saw itself outpaced by Kubernetes. However, the company has identified a problem with the growing complexity of containerisation, with some apps consisting of dozens or even hundreds of containers - which is what it now addresses.
Docker has had a difficult time in the recent past, with 2019 seeing it sell off its enterprise business, reduce its workforce by hundreds, and change its leadership team. As a well known brand and ecosystem for containerisation, however, it aims to lure developers back to its product as well as to take advantage of the growing global demand for app development.
Returning to focus on developers rather than large companies was certainly a gamble, but one that seems to have paid off. The company has returned to profitability and raised Series C funding in 2022, which is cited to fund hiring new talent, ramping up its business, and continuing to develop and refine its product. It's also embarked on a series of acquisitions to bolster its business, with speculation mounting about its possible sale in the near future.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
47% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 11 rounds)
Mar 2022
$105m
SERIES C
Mar 2021
$23m
SERIES B
Total funding: $498m
Company benefits
- 100% company paid medical premiums for employees and dependents
- Flexible Time Off Policy
- “Whaleness” Days — At least 1 company wide day off per month
- Employer Paid Holidays
- Generous Maternity and Parental Leave
- Home Office Set Up Budget
- Monthly Technology Stipend
- Training Allowances
- Life and Disability Insurance
- Retirement Plans
- Virtual and In-Person Social Events
- Docker Swag
- Quarterly Hackathons
- Virtual Coffee with Co-Workers
Company HQ
China Basin, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Don Johnson
(CEO)Previously Executive Vice President of Infrastructure at Oracle, was a Principal Engineer at Amazon and a Lead Software Engineer at RealNetworks.
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