[Hiring] Staff Sales Engineer @Docker

Role Description

We're looking for a Staff Sales Engineer who's energized by solving hard, emerging problems at the intersection of AI, security, and software delivery. You will act as a trusted technical advisor and champion owner, partnering closely with Account Executives, Post Sales, and Product teams to drive measurable business and technical value through:

• Technical Selling and Deal Shaping
• AI Governance and Security Thought Leadership
• Technical Champion Ownership and Thought Leadership
• Customer and Internal Advocacy
• Competitive and Strategic Selling

This role suits people who like translating deep technical complexity into business clarity, who are comfortable being one of the first to help define a category, and who bring varied backgrounds and ways of thinking to how we solve customer problems.

As a Staff Sales Engineer, you will be reporting to the Solutions Engineering leadership team and operate at the intersection of technical depth, business acumen, and competitive selling discipline.

Responsibilities

• Technical Selling and Deal Shaping
  • Lead deep technical discovery across Platform Engineering, DevOps, Security, and AI/ML teams to understand:
    • AI governance requirements for agentic development (shadow AI, ungoverned MCP tools, agents holding real developer credentials)
    • Software supply chain risk posture
    • Regulatory and compliance drivers (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI Risk Management Framework)
    • Secure development lifecycle requirements
  • Shape technical requirements early in the sales cycle to align customer outcomes with Docker's differentiated value in AI governance, container security, and software supply chain integrity.
  • Design, position, and execute structured PoCs/PoVs focused on:
    • Sandbox, network, and MCP tool policy enforcement
    • Image and artifact integrity (Docker Hardened Images, SLSA Build Level 3 provenance, verifiable SBOMs)
    • Software supply chain visibility
    • Agent and MCP tool governance controls
    • Secure build pipelines
  • Define clear success criteria, evaluation frameworks, and executive-ready value summaries.
  • Influence decision-making through demos, workshops, architecture reviews, and technical executive briefings.
  • Translate complex AI security and governance capabilities into clear business value narratives for CISOs, Heads of Platform Engineering, and AI leaders.
• AI Governance and Security Thought Leadership
  • Establish credibility as a trusted advisor on:
    • Responsible AI development practices
    • Secure AI model lifecycle management
    • Software supply chain integrity (SLSA provenance, SBOMs, verified base images)
    • Container and artifact security
    • DevSecOps best practices
  • Guide customers in implementing governance controls across AI-enabled SDLC workflows.
  • Provide architectural guidance for:
    • Agentic AI development environments and runtime isolation (sandboxing)
    • Policy-as-code enforcement across agents, tools, and machines
    • MCP tool governance and allow-listing
    • Identity and access governance for AI workloads (IdP-based role and policy assignment)
    • Audit, logging, and SIEM visibility for agent activity
  • Act as a subject matter expert on secure software supply chain and AI security trends in customer-facing engagements.
• Technical Champion Ownership and Thought Leadership
  • Build, own, and expand relationships with technical champions across Security, DevOps, Platform, and AI teams.
  • Establish credibility as a trusted advisor through technical thought leadership, architectural guidance, and industry best practices.
  • Leverage champion relationships to influence broader buying groups, shape requirements, and uncover cross-sell and expansion opportunities.
  • Maintain engagement beyond the initial sale, ensuring outcomes are realized and leveraging insights to support future sales motions.
• Customer and Internal Advocacy
  • Advocate for customer needs with Product and Engineering, providing clear, actionable feedback informed by field experience.
  • Coordinate with Post Sales and Support resources to ensure continuity across the customer lifecycle.
  • Develop reusable technical assets (workshops, demos, reference architectures, enablement content) to scale impact across accounts.
• Competitive and Strategic Selling
  • Actively support competitive sales motions by identifying differentiation and influencing evaluation criteria throughout the sales cycle.
  • Partner with Sales to develop technical win strategies for strategic and competitive accounts.

Qualifications

• Experience as a Sales Engineer, Solutions Engineer, or Solutions Architect in complex enterprise sales.
• Strong experience running competitive PoCs/PoVs with clearly defined success and exit criteria.
• Ability to engage credibly with senior technical and business stakeholders, including security and platform leadership.
• Solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), containers, DevOps, and modern application architectures.
• Experience with Docker, container ecosystems, or adjacent technologies strongly preferred.
• Development, agentic AI development, software development lifecycle, and/or software supply chain experience strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with AI governance, secure software supply chain (SLSA, SBOMs), MCP or agentic tooling, and DevSecOps practices strongly preferred.
• Must be fluent in English.
• Excellent communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites up to 25%.

Benefits

• Remote-first by design – Work from your home, with offices in Seattle and Paris for connection and collaboration.
• Flexibility that fits your life – We trust you to manage your schedule while delivering great work.
• Time to recharge – Generous PTO, designated quarterly Whaleness Days, and a designated end-of-year Whaleness break.
• 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.
• Learning & development – Annual stipend for conferences, courses, certifications, and continued learning.
• Parental leave – 16 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment.
• Equity for all full-time employees – Share in Docker's long-term success as we continue to grow.
• Comprehensive benefits – Medical, retirement, and paid holidays vary by country.
• Docker swag – Because representing the whale never gets old.