Senior Manager, Engineering, Docker Agents

Senior Manager, Engineering, Docker Agents (London)

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!

The Senior Manager, Engineering, Docker Agents leads the team responsible for building Docker’s next-generation AI agent capabilities. This team designs and delivers intelligent, containerized agents that enable automation, adaptive workflows, and real-world AI usage for developers.

This role combines people leadership, technical strategy, and cross-functional collaboration. The manager ensures the team delivers reliable, high-impact systems while maintaining a strong engineering culture grounded in trust, learning, and execution.

Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineers working on Docker Agents.
• Define hiring plans, onboarding, career paths, and performance expectations.
• Foster a culture of psychological safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Technical Strategy & Delivery

• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to define the vision, roadmap, and technical direction for agent systems.
• Guide architectural decisions for scalable, secure, and maintainable agent platforms.
• Balance long-term strategy with short-term execution to ensure consistent delivery.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Product Management, Platform, DevOps, and QA teams to align priorities.
• Advocate for agent capabilities across the Docker ecosystem.
• Ensure smooth integration between agent systems and other Docker products.

Operational Excellence

• Establish and track engineering metrics related to quality, velocity, and reliability.
• Remove blockers and improve developer productivity through better tooling and processes.
• Drive improvements in CI/CD, testing, observability, and system resilience.

Culture & Values

• Model strong leadership behaviors rooted in empathy, clarity, and ownership.
• Promote inclusion, diversity, and fairness in hiring and team development.
• Handle feedback, performance discussions, and prioritization decisions with transparency and respect.

First 30 Days

• Integrate into Docker’s AI & Agents Engineering organization and establish relationships with key stakeholders across Product, Platform, Engineering leadership, and sister AI teams (Ask Gordon, broader AI platform)
• Deep dive into the Docker Agents ecosystem including cagent project architecture, current roadmap, open-source community engagement, and technical debt assessment
• Conduct comprehensive 1:1s with each team member to understand their technical backgrounds, career aspirations, current project ownership, and individual growth opportunities
• Assess team dynamics, delivery processes, engineering practices, and identify immediate opportunities to remove blockers, improve productivity, and enhance code quality

First 90 Days

• Hire and onboard critical team members with expertise in containerized systems, AI/LLM integration, distributed systems, and open-source community management
• Establish clear team operating principles including engineering standards for agent development, code review processes, testing frameworks, and production deployment practices
• Drive alignment on technical vision and roadmap for Docker’s containerized agent platform in partnership with Product Management, ensuring clear prioritization of cagent evolution, enterprise features, and developer experience improvements
• Ship significant improvements to cagent or containerized agent platform capabilities with measurable impact on developer productivity or agent deployment reliability

One-Year Outlook

• Build and lead a high-performing engineering team of 8-12 engineers that consistently delivers reliable, scalable containerized agent infrastructure impacting millions of Docker users worldwide
• Establish the Docker Agents team as a center of excellence for containerized AI systems, influencing architecture decisions across Docker’s AI initiatives and the broader container ecosystem
• Develop team members into technical leaders through mentorship, conference speaking opportunities, open-source contributions, and clear career advancement paths within Docker’s engineering organization
• Establish repeatable processes for rapid prototyping, evaluation, and productization of new agent capabilities that maintain Docker’s reputation for reliability and developer experience excellence

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

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 3+ years of experience managing engineering teams.
• Proven ability to lead remote, distributed teams.
• Strong experience with distributed systems, APIs, or platform engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and guide teams through evolving requirements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred

• Experience working with AI systems, LLMs, or agent-based architectures.
• Background in developer tools, platforms, or infrastructure products.
• Product-oriented mindset with exposure to user-facing engineering decisions.