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Docker

Staff Software Engineer, AI Gateway

Docker, Washington, District of Columbia, us, 20022

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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 appstrusted by startups and Fortune 100s alike. Were growing fast and just getting started. Come join us for a whale of a ride! Docker AI Gateway is our answer to the complexity of taking AI agents from prototype to production. Its a powerful, intelligent, and secure control point that eliminates the toil of model orchestration, tool management, observability, and governanceso developers can focus on building incredible AI agents, not gluing together infrastructure. The Gateway sits at the center of modern AI applications, offering: A model and tool routing layer with built-in security and cost optimization

A familiar OpenAI-compatible interface and MCP server

Unified observability and policy enforcement

Auto-RAG, tool injection, session summarization, and more

Were just getting startedand we need exceptional engineers to help us build the backbone of the future of agent-based development. Responsibilities

Design and implement core systems powering the AI Gateway, including the model router, MCP gateway, and control plane

Build infrastructure that supports dynamic model selection, auto-failover, cost-based routing, and policy enforcement

Own critical capabilities such as secure credential storage, session summarization, caching, and rate limiting

Develop APIs for developers building with OpenAI-compatible interfaces and the Model Context Protocol

Build the underlying infrastructure to support evaluation, telemetry, replay, and backtesting for agents and LLM workflows

Lead architectural decisions and mentor engineers as the team scales

Collaborate with product and design to create delightful experiences in our control plane UI

Contribute to roadmap planning, technical strategy, and cross-functional alignment

Key Problems Youll Help Solve

Build a unified abstraction layer across diverse model and tool providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS Bedrock)

Implement secure and scalable identity and credential vaulting for tool and model access

Create infrastructure to support real-time and historical analytics of AI agent behavior

Ensure policy enforcement and logging works end-to-endfrom prompt to tool to response

Develop seamless developer experiences through intuitive APIs and first-class observability

Qualifications:

8+ years of backend engineering experience with production-grade systems

Deep knowledge of distributed and highly scalable systems, cloud-native infrastructure, and API design

Experience building secure, high-throughput services (e.g., gateways, proxies, load balancers, policy engines)

Fluency in Go, and/or Rust (both preferred)

Familiarity with AI/ML platforms or model serving infrastructure

A strong product mindsetyou're excited about building developer-facing tools

Ownership mentality with a bias for shipping, learning, and iterating

Bonus Qualifications:

Prior experience with OpenAI, Anthropic, or similar LLM APIs

Familiarity with RAG architectures, vector databases, or agent frameworks (e.g., LangChain, AutoGPT, CrewAI)

Experience with policy engines (e.g., OPA), observability frameworks (e.g., OpenTelemetry), or API gateways

Understanding of OAuth2.1, secret management, and cloud IAM systems

Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and microservices architecture

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

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

Quarterly, company-wide hackathons

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

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. Due to the remote nature of this role, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship. #LI-REMOTE