Senior Software Engineer, Docker Desktop; East Coast

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 Desktop is one of the core pillars of the Docker suite—powering the workflows of millions of developers worldwide. According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, Docker has been ranked the most‑used, most‑desired, and most‑admired developer tool for multiple years running. Joining the Desktop Platform team means shaping the experience behind one of the most loved tools in modern software development.

The Desktop Platform team is responsible for the core lifecycle of Docker Desktop, including installation, updates, startup, and key shared components used by every Docker Desktop feature team. Our work ensures that Docker Desktop is reliable, and easy to adopt, while providing the modular foundations that enable other teams to build and ship with confidence.

Engineers at Docker have access to industry‑leading AI tools that support design exploration, code comprehension, implementation, testing, and everything in between. You’ll join a team that is pragmatic, curious, and intentional about using AI to augment – not replace – great software engineering.

Please note, this role is remote, but is only open to candidates currently living and working in the EST (Eastern) time zone in the United States.

• Design, develop, and maintain core lifecycle components of Docker Desktop, including installation, update, startup, and shared platform systems.
• Collaborate closely with product teams to ensure seamless integration with shared platform components.
• Contribute to documentation, knowledge sharing, and technical discussions that raise the clarity and quality of engineering within the Desktop ecosystem.
• Write high‑quality code with strong test coverage (unit, integration, and end‑to‑end) and support healthy engineering practices across the team.
• Collaborate with our Delivery team on CI, release pipeline reliability, and lifecycle automation improvements that support faster and safer Desktop releases, especially when cross‑team coordination is required.

• 5+ years of experience building backend software, with recent demonstrated hands‑on Go (Golang) proficiency. We are looking for strong backend and platform engineering experience for this role.
• Experience working on cross‑platform desktop applications or lifecycle components (installers, updaters, system services).
• Demonstrated ability to design modular, maintainable system components that scale across teams.
• Comfortable working with observability, telemetry pipelines, performance metrics, and system health diagnostics.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguity and cross‑cutting technical challenges.
• Excellent communication skills for cross‑team collaboration, design reviews, and technical documentation.
• Demonstrated professional experience with operating system internals, installers/updaters, virtualization, networking, or OS‑level APIs.
• Experience with CI/CD systems, build pipelines, or release engineering workflows is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Meet your team, your onboarding buddy, and key collaborators across Docker Desktop.
• Set up your development environment and become familiar with the Desktop Platform architecture, lifecycle systems, and key internal components.
• Contribute your first small changes—bug fixes, reliability improvements, or performance tweaks.
• Participate in design discussions and pair programming to gain exposure to our tooling and workflows.

• Drive or co‑drive a larger feature, from design to development.
• Present findings, technical proposals, or insights to the team through proposal reviews or internal…