# Principal Software Engineer, Networking (Seattle or SF Bay Area)
**Company:** [Docker](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/docker)
Principal Software Engineer, Networking at Docker leads the technical architecture for Docker's Sandboxes platform networking stack, setting direction for container orchestration, service mesh integration, and AI-agentic infrastructure across local and cloud environments. This role requires 10+ years of distributed systems and networking expertise with demonstrated leadership in building scalable infrastructure at companies serving millions of developers. You will architect high-performance networking data and control planes, mentor a small engineering team, and directly shape how Docker's products evolve to support autonomous workflows and secure containerized deployments.
**Role:** Principal Software Engineer
**Seniority:** Principal
**Locations:** San Francisco Bay Area
**Remote:** yes
**Salary:** 198000–319000 USD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/docker/c7d880eb-4fb5-48db-b325-595cc8a8d017)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/docker/principal-software-engineer-networking-seattle-or-sf-bay-area
---
## Responsibilities

- Architect Core Networking Services: Design, implement, and operate the networking services backbone for Docker's Sandboxes platform, spanning both local laptop deployments and multi-cloud environments including AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI infrastructure.
- Lead Scalable Infrastructure Design: Build and operate scalable networking infrastructure for microVM orchestration, workload scheduling, and lifecycle management that handles multi-tenant agentic workloads with high reliability and performance requirements.
- Develop High-Performance Network Components: Engineer high-performance data-plane and control-plane networking components optimized for containerized and agentic workloads, focusing on latency, throughput, and resource efficiency across distributed systems.
- Ensure Infrastructure Reliability and Observability: Establish and maintain network reliability, observability, and performance standards across Docker's Sandbox infrastructure through monitoring, logging, alerting, and continuous performance optimization.
- Lead Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with product, platform, and security teams to translate customer requirements into technical solutions, participate in architectural reviews, and drive design decisions that impact Docker's product portfolio.
- Drive Technical Leadership and Standards: Provide technical leadership to a small team of engineers, establish development and operational standards, mentor team members, and drive consensus on architectural decisions and best practices.
- Optimize CI/CD and Deployment Pipelines: Contribute to infrastructure-as-code improvements, automation enhancements, and CI/CD pipeline optimization to accelerate development velocity and deployment reliability.
- Resolve Complex Production Issues: Debug and resolve production issues across distributed networking systems in local and public-cloud environments, implementing systematic improvements to prevent recurrence.
- Participate in On-Call Rotation: Engage in on-call incident response rotation, drive root cause analysis, and implement system improvements to enhance overall reliability and availability of networking infrastructure.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Computer Science or Engineering Degree","description":"Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field preferred."}
- {"name":"Equivalent Practical Experience","description":"Equivalent hands-on experience building production systems and infrastructure if formal degree not obtained, with demonstrated deep technical knowledge through shipped systems."}

### technical

- {"name":"Large-Scale Cloud and Distributed Systems","description":"Proven expertise building and operating cloud-native or distributed systems at scale with focus on networking foundations, container infrastructure, and multi-tenant architectures."}
- {"name":"Container Networking and Orchestration","description":"Deep experience with microservices architecture, container networking, Kubernetes/container orchestration platforms, and service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd, or similar)."}
- {"name":"Kernel and User-Space Networking","description":"Strong proficiency with Linux kernel networking internals, OVS (Open vSwitch), OVN (Open Virtual Network), DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit), and eBPF for advanced networking optimization."}
- {"name":"High-Availability Infrastructure Design","description":"Demonstrated track record designing, implementing, and operating highly available, secure, and observable networking infrastructure with multi-environment support and disaster recovery capabilities."}
- {"name":"Cloud Platform Expertise","description":"Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI), networking services, VPC architectures, scalability patterns, and infrastructure-as-code tooling."}
- {"name":"CI/CD and Observability Tooling","description":"Proficiency with CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, monitoring platforms, logging systems, and metrics collection for distributed infrastructure."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Debugging","description":"Expert-level problem-solving and debugging skills in complex distributed environments with ability to trace issues across networking stacks, services, and infrastructure layers."}

### experience

- {"name":"10+ Years Infrastructure Leadership","description":"Minimum 10 years building and leading large-scale cloud or distributed systems projects, with demonstrated technical leadership and team mentorship experience."}
- {"name":"Technical Consensus and Delivery Track Record","description":"Proven ability to drive technical consensus across stakeholders, deliver high-quality infrastructure software on tight timelines, and make pragmatic architectural decisions under ambiguity."}
- {"name":"Networking Stack Specialization","description":"Specialized experience focused on networking foundations, with depth across multiple networking domains (container networking, service mesh, policy enforcement, virtual networking)."}
- {"name":"Production System Operation","description":"Extensive experience designing, deploying, and operating production networking systems at scale serving millions of users or billions of transactions."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Container Networking Architecture","description":"Design and implementation of container networking solutions including overlay networks, network policy, service discovery, and load balancing for containerized workloads."}
- {"name":"Linux Kernel Networking","description":"Deep understanding of Linux networking subsystem, TCP/IP stack internals, namespaces, cgroups, and kernel module development for networking optimization."}
- {"name":"Service Mesh Technologies","description":"Hands-on experience with service mesh platforms and their data planes, control planes, traffic management, security policies, and observability integration."}
- {"name":"Microservices and Orchestration","description":"Expertise in microservices architecture patterns, container orchestration (Kubernetes), cluster management, and multi-tenant workload isolation and scheduling."}
- {"name":"Infrastructure as Code","description":"Proficiency with infrastructure automation tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or cloud-native IaC solutions for managing complex distributed systems."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Design","description":"Strong understanding of distributed systems patterns, consensus algorithms, eventual consistency, CAP theorem, and resilience patterns for large-scale systems."}
- {"name":"Production Debugging and Observability","description":"Expert ability to trace production issues using system profilers, network analyzers, distributed tracing, logging, and metrics to resolve complex failures."}
- {"name":"Technical Leadership and Communication","description":"Ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences, mentor engineers, drive consensus through design documents and architecture reviews."}

### preferred

- {"name":"eBPF Programming","description":"Experience writing or deploying eBPF programs for advanced networking, security monitoring, or performance optimization in Linux environments."}
- {"name":"Open Virtual Network (OVN/OVS)","description":"Hands-on experience with Open vSwitch and Open Virtual Network for virtual network implementation and management at scale."}
- {"name":"DPDK Optimization","description":"Experience optimizing data plane performance using DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) or similar user-space packet processing frameworks."}
- {"name":"Container Image and Registry Experience","description":"Familiarity with container image formats, registries, supply chain security, and distribution mechanisms relevant to containerized infrastructure."}
- {"name":"Multi-Cloud Architecture","description":"Experience designing and operating consistent networking solutions across multiple cloud providers with different underlying infrastructure models."}
- {"name":"AI/ML Infrastructure","description":"Familiarity with infrastructure requirements for AI agent platforms, including sandboxing, isolation, resource management, and security considerations."}
- {"name":"Container Security","description":"Knowledge of container security architecture, network policy enforcement, admission control, and secure multi-tenant isolation patterns."}
- {"name":"Go or Rust Programming","description":"Proficiency in Go or Rust for systems programming, with experience building infrastructure software, networking tools, or performance-critical components."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"Terraform","description":"Infrastructure-as-code tool for provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI platforms."}
- {"name":"Docker","description":"Containerization platform and core technology underlying Docker's products; deep familiarity essential for this role."}
- {"name":"tcpdump/Wireshark","description":"Network packet capture and analysis tools essential for debugging complex networking issues in production systems."}
- {"name":"Prometheus","description":"Metrics collection and monitoring platform for infrastructure observability, alerting, and performance analysis."}
- {"name":"Grafana","description":"Visualization and dashboarding platform for infrastructure metrics, enabling rapid diagnosis and understanding of system behavior."}
- {"name":"Git/GitHub","description":"Version control and collaboration platform used for code management, code review, and infrastructure-as-code repositories."}
- {"name":"Linux Performance Tools","description":"Tools like perf, bpftrace, and strace for profiling, tracing, and analyzing system performance at the kernel level."}

### others

- {"name":"eBPF","description":"In-kernel virtual machine for running sandboxed programs in the Linux kernel for networking monitoring, security, and performance optimization."}
- {"name":"DPDK","description":"Data Plane Development Kit for high-performance packet processing and user-space networking optimization bypassing kernel networking stack."}
- {"name":"Open vSwitch (OVS)","description":"Virtual switch implementation supporting network virtualization, VLAN management, and advanced networking policies in cloud environments."}
- {"name":"Multi-Cloud Networking","description":"Architecture patterns and implementation approaches for consistent networking solutions across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI platforms."}
- {"name":"Distributed Tracing","description":"Observability platforms like Jaeger or Zipkin for tracing requests across distributed services to identify performance bottlenecks and failures."}

### databases

- {"name":"Time-Series Databases (Prometheus/InfluxDB)","description":"Metrics collection, storage, and querying platforms essential for monitoring and observability of distributed networking infrastructure."}
- {"name":"Distributed Data Stores","description":"Experience with etcd, Consul, or similar distributed key-value stores for configuration management, service discovery, and consensus in infrastructure systems."}

### languages

- {"name":"Go","description":"Primary language for modern container infrastructure and networking tooling projects; Docker ecosystem extensively uses Go for core components."}
- {"name":"Rust","description":"Systems programming language increasingly used for performance-critical networking components, data plane implementations, and infrastructure tooling."}
- {"name":"Python","description":"Used for infrastructure automation, testing frameworks, CI/CD scripting, and tooling around cloud orchestration and deployment pipelines."}
- {"name":"C","description":"Essential for kernel module development, eBPF program development, and low-level networking optimization in user-space and kernel contexts."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Industry standard container orchestration platform for managing microservices, workload scheduling, and cluster operations at scale."}
- {"name":"Service Mesh (Istio/Linkerd)","description":"Control plane and data plane technologies for managing service-to-service communication, traffic policies, and observability in microservices environments."}
- {"name":"Open Virtual Network (OVN)","description":"Network virtualization platform providing logical networking abstractions for cloud and container environments with advanced policy enforcement."}
- {"name":"Linux Networking Stack","description":"Core Linux kernel components including iptables, netfilter, tc (traffic control), and network namespace implementations for container networking."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Remote-First Work Model","description":"Fully distributed, remote-first organizational structure with flexibility to fit work around your life while maintaining collaboration with global teams and optional offices in Seattle and Paris."}
- {"name":"Quarterly Whaleness Days and Year-End Break","description":"Designated quarterly wellness breaks (Whaleness Days) plus extended end-of-year break to encourage work-life balance and team cohesion."}
- {"name":"Home Office Setup","description":"Comprehensive home office setup support to ensure your remote workspace is comfortable, ergonomic, and productive for focused engineering work."}
- {"name":"Paid Parental Leave","description":"Generous 16 weeks of paid parental leave after 6 months of employment, supporting work-life integration for growing families."}
- {"name":"Technology Stipend","description":"Monthly technology stipend equivalent to $100 USD net to support laptop upgrades, peripherals, software licenses, and other professional tools."}
- {"name":"Flexible PTO","description":"Flexible paid time off policy that encourages taking time to recharge and pursue personal interests beyond work."}
- {"name":"Professional Development Stipend","description":"Training budget for conferences, courses, certifications, and professional development to maintain technical edge in rapidly evolving networking domains."}
- {"name":"Equity Participation","description":"Stock options and equity grants allowing all employees to share in Docker's growth and success as a scaling startup in the developer tools space."}
- {"name":"Comprehensive Benefits","description":"Medical, dental, and vision coverage with retirement benefits and holiday schedules varying by country to support employee wellness."}
- {"name":"Docker Swag","description":"Branded Docker merchandise and company swag reinforcing team identity and community within the global organization."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 319000
- **min:** 198000
- **currency:** USD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

## Full description
Docker has been one of the most loved brands in developer tooling, trusted by more than 20 million monthly users and over 20 billion container image pulls. From solo founders to the world's largest companies, developers rely on Docker to build, share, and run their applications across our suite of products including Docker Desktop, Docker Hub, and Docker Scout.  
  
We are a globally distributed, remote-first team building the tools that define how software gets built and delivered. As AI agents redefine software development, Docker is at the center of that shift, providing the sandboxed environments, verified images, and secure infrastructure that make autonomous workflows trustworthy by default.

As a **Principal Software Engineer** in Networking, you will set the technical direction for the networking stack behind Docker's agentic Sandboxes platform and make architectural decisions that ripple across Docker's product portfolio. Your work will directly enable Docker's expansion into AI and security products.

This role calls for someone who:

1. Combines deep technical expertise in infrastructure at scale — virtual networking, service mesh, orchestration, and integration across the broader infrastructure stack;
2. Communicates and collaborates well, thinks critically, and turns ideas into working systems’;
3. Adapts to ambiguity and brings clarity; and
4. Provides technical leadership to a small team of engineers, driving customer delight through the solutions they deliver

# **Responsibilities**

* Design, implement, and operate core networking services that power Docker's Sandboxes platform across local laptops and public cloud environments
* Build scalable networking infrastructure for microVM orchestration, workload scheduling, and lifecycle management
* Develop high-performance networking data- and control-plane components for multi-tenant agentic workloads
* Ensure network reliability, observability, and performance across Docker's Sandbox infrastructure
* Collaborate with product, platform, and security teams to deliver customer-focused capabilities
* Participate in architectural discussions, code reviews, and design documents
* Contribute to automation and CI/CD improvements across the deployment pipeline
* Debug and resolve production issues across distributed systems in local and public-cloud environments
* Take part in on-call rotation for your team; respond to incidents and drive continuous improvement of system reliability and availability

# **Qualifications**

* 10+ years of experience building and leading large-scale cloud or distributed systems, with a focus on networking foundations
* Track record of driving technical consensus and delivering high-quality infrastructure software at scale, on tight timelines
* Experience with microservices architecture, container networking, service mesh, policy enforcement, and container orchestration
* Experience with kernel and user-space networking technologies, including Linux networking, OVS/OVN, DPDK, and eBPF
* Experience designing and operating highly available, secure, and observable networking infrastructure
* Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI) and related scalability patterns
* Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and infrastructure-as-code tooling
* Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills in distributed environments
* Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across remote, cross-functional teams
* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

# **What to Expect**

## **First 30 days**

* Onboard, integrate with our Sandbox infrastructure teams, and build context on Docker's Sandbox vision
* Deep-dive into Sandbox architecture for local and public-cloud infrastructure, with a focus on driving simple, common foundational primitives usable across both environments
* Identify the highest-leverage opportunities in the current architecture, along with strategic and tactical execution risks

## **First 90 days**

* Develop a technical roadmap to address the challenges identified; drive consensus across stakeholders
* Provide technical leadership to a small team of engineers to deliver on the roadmap
* Establish or improve technical standards for development, deployment, operation, and observability of networking services

## **One-year outlook**

* Drive simplification of foundational networking infrastructure across local and public-cloud environments
* Establish repeatable engineering practices for quality, performance, and operational excellence
* Nurture the team's confidence and capability by providing clarity, sustaining focus, and delivering pragmatically through successive iteration
* Set a standard for what a small team of engineers can deliver and manage when given a charter, autonomy, and the tools they need

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

**Compensation & Equity**

**United States:** $198K – $319K + equity

**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 (after 6 months of employment)
* Technology stipend equivalent to $100 USD 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.

#LI-REMOTE