Staff Software Engineer, AI Gateway

About Docker

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 worlds 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.
Docker AI Gateway is our answer to the complexity of taking AI agents from prototype to production. It’s a powerful, intelligent, and secure control point that eliminates the toil of model orchestration, tool management, observability, and governance - so developers can focus on building incredible AI agents, not gluing together infrastructure.
The Gateway sits at the center of modern AI applications, offering:
A familiar OpenAI-compatible interface and MCP server
Unified observability and policy enforcement
Auto-RAG, tool injection, session summarization, and more
We’re just getting started and we need exceptional engineers to help us build the backbone of the future of agent-based development.
Set technical direction for core systems powering the AI Gateway 0 the model router, MCP gateway, and control plane - and make sure architectural decisions hold up as usage scales by 10x
Take a significant, hands-on role in defining, delivering, and implementing the Gateways technical strategy, in close partnership with engineering leadership
Own the hardest, highest-ambiguity problems in the system: dynamic model selection, auto-failover, cost-based routing, and policy enforcement that has to work end-to-end
Build the infrastructure that lets us, and our customers, evaluate, replay, and backtest agent and LLM behavior with confidence
Mentor senior and mid-level engineers, and raise the technical bar for the team through code, design review, and example
Key Problems You’ll Help Solve
Define the unified abstraction layer across diverse model and tool providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS Bedrock) that the rest of the org builds on
Build the infrastructure for real-time and historical analytics of AI agent behavior that leadership and customers both rely on
Guarantee that policy enforcement and logging work end-to-end - from prompt to tool to response - with no gaps an auditor (or attacker) could find
8+ years of backend engineering experience, with a track record of owning production-grade systems at significant scale
~ Deep specialization in distributed systems, cloud-native infrastructure, and API design - recognized by peers and cross-functional partners as a go-to expert, not just experienced
~ Experience building secure, high-throughput services (gateways, proxies, load balancers, policy engines), and a history of making judgment calls other engineers rely on
~ Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Bonus Qualifications
Familiarity with RAG architectures, vector databases, or agent frameworks (e.g., Experience with policy engines (e.g., Understanding of OAuth 2.1, secret management, and cloud IAM systems
Help define the infrastructure stack for the next generation of software.
Be part of a small team building the backbone of secure, intelligent agent applications.
Your work will touch tens of thousands of developers building AI-first applications.
Join a world-class engineering team that values simplicity, code quality, and deep technical thinking.
Remote-first culture:

Compensation & Equity
United States:

$170,350 – $275,550 + equity

AI in hiring:

Docker may use AI-assisted tools during our recruiting process.
Remote-first by design

– Work from your home, with offices in Seattle and Paris for connection and collaboration.
Home office support

– Set up your workspace for comfort and success.
Technology stipend

– Equivalent to

US$100 net per month

to help support your work.
Equity for all full-time employees

– Share in Dockers long-term success as we continue to grow.
Comprehensive benefits

– Medical, retirement, and paid holidays vary by country.
We are committed to building a team that reflects a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe diverse teams build better products, make better decisions, and better serve our global community.