Principal Technical Program Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

Docker

9d • $162,050 - $254,650 • Remote

About The Position

Docker is hiring a Principal Technical Program Manager for its Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team. The FDE team embeds senior engineers with strategic customers to address deployment, integration, and adoption challenges, then brings insights back to Docker Product and Engineering. The role defines and operates the standards, engagement model, quality bar, metrics, and operating rhythm for FDE. It oversees customer and internal engineering commitments, capacity and staffing plans, dependencies, risks, and executive reporting. The position works across Field, Product, Engineering, recruiting, customer stakeholders, and company leadership. It also sets priorities for junior TPMs, mentors them, and selects the tools and standards used to track FDE work. Docker is a globally distributed, remote-first company; occasional travel to customer sites and team gatherings is expected.

Requirements

• 10+ years of technical program management experience, including 4+ years at Staff level or above, supporting customer-facing engineering, professional services, or field engineering teams.
• Track record of delivering commitments on schedule for enterprise customers, including contractual or executive-visible deadlines.
• Experience defining standards, quality bars, and operating processes adopted by other teams.
• Experience managing dependencies across many engineering teams outside one's direct management and obtaining reliable dates through influence.
• Strong technical background in cloud platforms, containers, and modern software delivery; ability to review designs, challenge estimates, and distinguish concrete blockers from vague ones.
• Experience selecting metrics and setting targets, including working with incomplete data and determining when it is sufficient to act.
• Executive communication skills, including communicating difficult news early and clearly to customer stakeholders, Docker leaders, and engineers.
• High agency and ability to work autonomously in a distributed, remote-first company where processes are still being defined.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Occasional travel to customer sites and Docker team gatherings.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience supporting a Forward Deployed Engineering, Professional Services, Solutions Engineering, or Customer Engineering organization.
• Familiarity with the agentic AI ecosystem, including coding agents, Model Context Protocol (MCP), and enterprise security and governance requirements for AI workloads.
• Experience with regulated or compliance-driven customers in financial services, healthcare, government, or similar sectors.
• Experience at a developer tools, infrastructure software, or platform company.
• Familiarity with Docker products, Kubernetes, and cloud-native development platforms.

Responsibilities

• Define and document FDE delivery standards, engagement model, and quality bar.
• Select FDE metrics, establish targets, and revise them as the team learns.
• Turn engagement lessons into reusable practices and product improvements.
• Provide executives with clear reporting on progress, risks, required decisions, and decision owners.
• Manage FDE capacity and staffing plans with FDE leadership and recruiting, including customer-engineer alignment, staffing gaps, and hiring needs.
• Track Docker's commitments to FDE customers and Product and Engineering commitments to FDE.
• Map cross-team dependencies, surface risks early, and negotiate and confirm delivery dates with teams operating on separate planning processes.
• Represent FDE with Product and Engineering leadership, ensuring customer needs are data-informed and product decisions connect to achievable FDE action.
• Improve collaboration processes across Field, Product, and Engineering, and share successful improvements across the company.
• Present FDE results and risks to Docker executives and customer stakeholders.
• Set priorities for junior TPMs, define FDE reporting needs, and mentor them in program management.
• Select the tools and standards FDE uses to track work.

Benefits

• Equity for all full-time employees.
• Flexible schedule.
• Generous paid time off, quarterly Whaleness Days, and an end-of-year Whaleness break.
• Home office support.
• Technology stipend equivalent to US$100 net per month.
• Annual learning and development stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and continued learning.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment.
• Medical benefits, retirement benefits, and paid holidays, varying by country.
• Docker swag.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal