Staff Software Engineer, Backend Systems (US East Coast)

At Docker, we make app development easier so developers can focus on what matters. Our remote-first team spans the globe, united by a passion for innovation and great developer experiences. With over 20 million monthly users and 20 billion image pulls, Docker is the #1 tool for building, sharing, and running apps—trusted by startups and Fortune 100s alike. We’re growing fast and just getting started. Come join us for a whale of a ride!

The Developer Experience (DevEx) team builds the systems and experiences that help millions of developers build, secure, and ship software with confidence. We power critical parts of Docker Scout and Hardened Images, enabling developers and enterprises to understand and improve their software supply chains.

DevEx operates a polyglot backend infrastructure, with significant systems in both Clojure and Go. We're actively evolving our technology strategy: while we maintain sophisticated Clojure-based architecture (event-driven patterns, Datomic Cloud, distributed systems serving 20M+ users), we're working to consolidate around Go where it makes strategic sense and building new ownership capabilities in Go.

What this means for you: In the immediate term, you'll likely work more in Clojure than Go, and this may continue for a sustained period. Over time, the balance will shift. We need engineers who are genuinely excited about working across both languages - learning deeply where you have gaps and helping others do the same.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll be a key technical leader who works fluently across our technology stack. You'll drive architecture for distributed systems, influence cross-team design decisions, mentor engineers through technology transitions, and help shape how Docker's backend systems evolve. This isn't about abandoning what works - it's about pragmatic evolution that serves our users and business goals.

This role is ideal for a backend engineer with strong experience in either Clojure or Go (or both) who genuinely enjoys working with multiple languages, values pragmatic technology decisions, and wants to help guide platform evolution at scale.

Success in This Role Looks Like

You'll thrive here if you're language-pragmatic, enjoy working across teams, and can navigate technical evolution with clarity. Success means you've strengthened our architecture across both Clojure and Go, influenced strategy, guided engineers through transitions, and helped deliver impactful capabilities while maintaining reliability through change.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and design for major backend systems in both Clojure and Go
• Work across teams to define, align, and drive shared technical direction
• Design, build, and operate backend services with a focus on scalability, security, and resilience
• Make strategic recommendations about when to maintain, evolve, or rebuild components
• Partner with Product and Engineering leaders to connect technical decisions with business outcomes
• Mentor engineers across DevEx in both Clojure and Go, helping teams navigate technology transitions
• Drive improvements in observability, performance, and service reliability across the entire stack
• Help refine DevEx's security posture in line with company-wide strategy
• Represent engineering work clearly to senior stakeholders and other teams
• Participate in the on-call rotation and improve operational readiness across services
• Champion clear communication, documentation, and technical excellence
• Take part in on-call rotation for your team; respond to incidents, debug production issues, and drive continuous improvement of system reliability

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 8+ years of directly applicable experience
• Deep experience building and operating large-scale backend systems
• Strong programming abilities in either Clojure or Go with demonstrated willingness and ability to learn the other
• Proven ability to drive architectural design and guide multi-team initiatives
• Strong understanding of cloud-native systems, distributed system patterns, and microservices
• Experience influencing technical direction across teams and mentoring senior engineers
• Ability to articulate tradeoffs and connect technical decisions to product and business needs
• Comfortable collaborating across engineering, product, design, and other functions
• Excellent written and spoken communication in a remote, async environment

Strong Plus

• Production experience with both Clojure and Go
• Experience with Datomic, event-driven architectures, or Kafka
• Track record of successfully navigating platform migrations or consolidations
• Experience working in polyglot environments

Critical mindset: You're genuinely enthusiastic about working in whichever language you have less experience with. If you're primarily a Go engineer, you're excited to dive deep into Clojure (potentially for an extended period). If you're primarily a Clojure engineer, you're eager to build Go expertise. We're looking for engineers who see technology transitions as opportunities, not obligations.

What To Expect

First 30 Days

• Build context on our architecture in both Clojure and Go
• Pair with engineers across teams to understand core systems and workflows
• Ship your first changes to production
• Understand our technology evolution strategy and priorities
• Build relationships across engineering

First 90 Days

• Lead design for a cross-team initiative or system-level improvement
• Contribute meaningfully in both Clojure and Go codebases
• Strengthen system boundaries and architectural clarity
• Mentor engineers and contribute to improved technical documentation
• Provide input on platform evolution decisions

One Year Outlook

• You're a key technical leader for DevEx and a go-to partner across Docker
• You're fluent working in both Clojure and Go
• You've shaped architecture for major systems and improved reliability, performance, and operational capability
• You've influenced technical strategy across multiple teams during our platform evolution
• You're helping set a strong engineering culture that embraces pragmatic technology decisions

Docker considers sponsorship on a case-by-case basis based on business needs.

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. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on April 13, 2024.

Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here.

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
• Technology stipend equivalent to $100 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.

Compensation Range: $195,400 - $275,550