Staff Program Manager, Docker
Engineering Operations, Production Readiness
$174.4-218k
Offers equity
More information about location
App development platform
Be an early applicant
App development platform
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$174.4-218k
Offers 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
- 8+ years of experience in technical program management, engineering operations, or platform/production readiness roles, including Staff-level or equivalent scope
- Proven success leading cross-company programs that define and enforce engineering or operational standards
- Strong technical background in cloud platforms, distributed systems, and enterprise software
- Experience partnering with security, engineering, platform, product and go-to-market teams
- Demonstrated ability to operate in high-ambiguity environments, turning unclear expectations into clear operating models
- Exceptional influence, communication, and facilitation skills across senior technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Track record of building scalable, lightweight processes that improve outcomes without slowing teams down
- Experience in distributed or remote-first organizations
What the job involves
- As Docker scales its product portfolio and platform capabilities, we are creating a Staff Engineering Operations Program Manager role focused on defining, operationalizing, and scaling expectations of engineering and release excellence
- This role owns the cross-functional programs, standards, and operating mechanisms that ensure new products and services are secure, reliable, compliant, operable, and supportable before and after launch
- You will partner closely with Engineering, Product, Security, Legal, Platform, and Go-to-Market teams to turn expectations into clear baseline requirements and repeatable execution that is embedded into the technology stack of Docker for consistency, scale, and adaptability
- This is a highly strategic, execution-heavy role requiring strong technical judgment, systems thinking, and the ability to influence across the organization without direct authority
- Define and operationalize “production readiness” standards across security, reliability, privacy, compliance, operability, UI quality, and platform integration
- Design and lead company-wide programs that establish baseline requirements for launching and operating new products and services
- Partner with engineering, product, security, platform, product, and go-to-market leaders to align expectations and ownership across the product lifecycle
- Translate abstract risk and quality concerns into concrete, actionable requirements, checklists, and decision criteria
- Create scalable launch and readiness frameworks that balance rigor with speed in a fast-moving environment
- Own cross-functional launch readiness reviews and decision forums, ensuring risks are surfaced early and resolved intentionally
- Establish clear visibility into launch health, operational risk, and readiness gaps through SDLC governance, automated guardrails, and lightweight metrics and reporting
- Identify systemic gaps in tooling, processes, or ownership that create production risk, and drive remediation programs
- Reduce friction for teams shipping products by providing clarity, support institutionalizing requirements and repeatable mechanisms within dev tools, and maintain the need for agility and iterative flexibility
- Continuously evolve standards and programs as Docker’s products, customers, and regulatory environment mature
- Mentor TPMs and engineering partners on large-scale execution, risk management, and cross-functional coordination
- First 30 Days
- Learn Docker’s product architecture, platform capabilities, and existing launch and readiness practices
- Build relationships with Engineering, Product, Security, Legal, Platform, and Go-To-Market leaders
- Review recent launches to understand what is currently in place, friction points, and gaps
- Identify where expectations for production readiness are unclear, inconsistent, or implicit
- First 90 Days
- Define a clear, shared definition of “production readiness” aligned across stakeholders
- Launch one or more foundational readiness programs.
- Improve visibility into launch risk and readiness status for leadership
- Reduce ad hoc escalation and last-minute launch blockers
- One Year Outlook
- Establish durable, scalable production readiness standards and programs used consistently across teams
- Make launches more predictable, lower-risk, and easier to execute at scale (i.e. “readiness diagnostics reporting”, etc.)
- Reduce production incidents, compliance gaps, and post-launch remediation work
- Embed readiness thinking into planning and execution, not just release moments
- Be recognized as the owner of “how we safely and responsibly ship” at Docker
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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