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Docker, Inc.

Software Engineer III, AI Developer Tools

Docker, Inc., Seattle, Washington, us, 98127

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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 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! Docker seeks a

Software Engineer III

to join our new AI Developer Tools team building the future of AI-powered developer productivity. This is an exciting opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI agents and tools that transform how developers write code, debug issues, deploy applications, and respond to incidents—both internally at Docker and for our customers worldwide. You’ll work at the intersection of AI and developer experience, contributing to production systems that leverage LLMs and AI agents to accelerate developer workflows. You’ll build AI-powered tools such as code review assistants, automated test generators, deployment diagnostics agents, and on-call assistance tools. You’ll also contribute to the self-service platform that enables teams across Docker to rapidly build and deploy their own AI developer tools. Your work will directly impact how Docker’s engineers build and operate services powering 20 million users. As these tools mature and demonstrate value, you’ll participate in transforming them into commercial offerings for Docker’s customers. This is a hands-on role where you’ll work with increasing independence, collaborate closely with engineers across multiple teams, and ship production features in a fast-paced, remote-first environment that values rapid iteration and continuous learning. What Would Make Someone Successful in This Role

You’re excited about AI and its potential to transform developer productivity. You have solid experience building production systems with AI agents, and you understand the nuances of prompt engineering, agent orchestration, and evaluating AI system effectiveness. You have strong software engineering fundamentals and can work independently on day-to-day tasks with general guidance on new projects. You think in terms of products and platforms, balancing technical excellence with pragmatism to ship iteratively while maintaining high quality bars. You’re comfortable navigating the rapidly evolving AI/LLM landscape, experimenting with new tools and approaches, and making pragmatic technology choices. You exercise good judgment within defined processes and demonstrate emerging strategic thinking skills. You’re collaborative, communicate clearly in remote environments, build effective relationships across multiple teams, and can act as a resource for teammates when they need help. You take ownership of your work from design through deployment and operations. Responsibilities

Build AI-Powered Developer Tools:

Design, implement, and ship production-ready AI agents and tools that accelerate developer productivity such as code review and refactoring assistants, automated test generators, local environment setup tools, deployment pipeline diagnostic agents, and agents that simplify on-call tasks when handling incidents

Implement LLM Integrations:

Build robust, production-grade integrations with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) such as prompt engineering, response parsing, error handling, rate limiting, cost management, and performance optimization

Develop Agent Orchestration Systems:

Create agent frameworks and orchestration systems that enable complex multi-step workflows, tool calling, context management, and agent-to-agent communication

Contribute to Platform Infrastructure:

Build self-service platform capabilities that enable teams across Docker to rapidly deploy and operate their own AI developer tools such as deployment pipelines, observability integration, security controls, operational tooling

Drive Adoption of AI-Native Development:

Build tools and programs that accelerate adoption of AI developer tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, and Warp across Docker's engineering organization

Ensure Production Quality:

Write well-tested code with strong test coverage (unit, integration, end-to-end); establish monitoring, alerting, and operational excellence for AI systems

Collaborate Cross-Functionally:

Partner with Principal Engineer and Senior Engineers on architecture, work with product and design teams on features and UX, and collaborate with platform teams (Infrastructure, Security, Data) on integrations; build effective partnerships across multiple teams

Act as Technical Resource:

Help teammates solve problems and share knowledge through code reviews and technical discussions

Participate in Operations:

Take part in on-call rotation for AI developer tools; respond to incidents, debug production issues, and drive continuous improvement of system reliability

Document and Share:

Create clear technical documentation for features you build; share patterns and learnings with the team

Measure and Iterate:

Instrument AI tools to measure adoption, effectiveness, and developer productivity impact; iterate based on data and user feedback to continuously improve developer experience

Qualifications

Required: 3-5 years building production-grade backend systems or developer-facing tools with strong software engineering fundamentals

Hands-on production experience with AI/ML technologies including practical experience with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), prompt engineering, and AI agent development

Proficiency in Go (preferred), Rust, Java, or Python with strong software engineering fundamentals

Experience designing and building distributed systems, microservices, or platform infrastructure

Strong understanding of cloud-native systems (AWS, GCP, or Azure), APIs, and data stores

Solid grasp of CI/CD, automated testing, code review practices, and modern development workflows

Demonstrated ability to work independently on day-to-day work with general guidance on new projects

Product-minded approach to building developer tools with focus on user experience and measurable outcomes

Excellent communication skills in remote, asynchronous environments with ability to document technical decisions clearly

Ability to build effective working relationships across multiple teams

Ownership mentality with bias for action and iterative delivery

Comfortable working autonomously across distributed teams and navigating ambiguity

Preferred: Contributions to open source AI tools, developer tooling, or platform engineering projects

Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar AI agent integration standards

Background in developer productivity, DevOps, SRE, or platform engineering domains

Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and container orchestration

Knowledge of developer tools ecosystems (IDEs, CI/CD platforms, observability tools)

Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi) and GitOps deployment patterns (ArgoCD, FluxCD)

Understanding of security, compliance, and operational best practices for production AI systems

Understanding of software design patterns and distributed systems principles

What to Expect

First 30 Days Get up to speed on Docker's AI Developer Tools vision, current Agent Dev project status, and existing AI tool prototypes

Meet your team, Principal Engineer, Senior Manager, and key stakeholders across product engineering and platform teams

Understand Docker's developer tooling landscape including deployment systems, observability platforms, and CI/CD pipelines

Explore Docker's LLM provider relationships, AI technology choices, and existing integration patterns

Make meaningful contributions to the AI Developer Tools codebase through features or improvements

Participate in design discussions and code reviews to understand team technical standards and decision-making processes

Begin building relationships with engineers across multiple teams

First 90 Days Take ownership of and deliver significant features with measurable impact (e.g., complete AI agent capability, LLM integration improvement, or platform infrastructure component)

Work with increasing independence on day-to-day tasks; demonstrate good judgment on when to ask for guidance

Contribute to platform infrastructure improvements that enable faster development and deployment of AI tools

Collaborate with product and design teams on feature requirements and user experience for AI developer tools

Participate in user research and customer calls to understand developer pain points and validate AI tool effectiveness

Help other engineers through code reviews and technical discussions

Establish monitoring and instrumentation for AI tools you’ve shipped to measure adoption and effectiveness

First Year Outlook Own significant components of AI developer tools platform with responsibility for design, implementation, and operations

Ship multiple production AI agents and tools with demonstrated adoption and measurable productivity improvements

Work largely independently on routine work; exercise good judgment within defined processes

Build strong working relationships across Docker with product, platform, and engineering teams

Act as a reliable technical resource for teammates

Demonstrate emerging strategic thinking in your approach to problems and solutions

Drive measurable improvements in developer productivity metrics such as AI tool adoption, commit frequency, PR velocity, deployment times, and CI run times

Participate in productization efforts as internal AI tools evolve into customer-facing offerings

Continue growing your expertise in AI/ML technologies and platform engineering

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

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