Docker Principal Technical Program Manager at Docker defines delivery standards and runs the business for Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE). Owns operating rhythm, capacity management, and customer and engineering commitments.
Responsibilities
Docker's Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team embeds senior engineers inside our most strategic customers to solve their hardest deployment, integration, and adoption problems. FDEs then bring what they learn back to Docker Product and Engineering so that every customer benefits.
As the Principal Technical Program Manager for FDE, you define what good looks like for the organization and run the business that delivers it. You define the standards for how FDE plans, commits, delivers, and measures quality. You own the operating rhythm, track commitments Docker has made to customers, the commitments Docker Engineering has made to FDE, and the timelines and resourcing behind them.
This is a senior role that works with stakeholders across the business to drive outcomes for Dockers most important customers. FDE is where Docker proves it can deliver for the customers that matter most while the technology around us changes quickly. You will set the standard for how a small team of senior engineers earns and keeps the trust of customers, and you will make what they learn useful to the whole company. The practices you establish will become the model for how Docker engages with its largest, most complex customers.
Define the FDE delivery standards, engagement model, and quality bar, and write them down so engagements are consistent across customers, regions, and engineers.
Decide which metrics matter for FDE, set targets, and revise them as the team learns.
Turn lessons from each engagement into reusable practice and product improvements.
Run the FDE Business
Give executives a clear account of what is on track, what is at risk, what decision is needed, and from whom.
Own FDE capacity management and staffing plans with FDE leadership and recruiting: which engineers are aligned to which customers, where the gaps are, where and when to hire to stay ahead of demand.
Own Customer and Engineering Commitments
Qualification
Experience defining standardsExecutive communication skillsBachelor's degree in Computer ScienceBonus Qualifications
Required
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.
A track record of delivering commitments on schedule for enterprise customers, including contractual or executive-visible deadlines.
Experience defining standards, quality bars, and operating processes that other teams adopted.
Experience running dependencies across many engineering teams that you do not manage, and getting reliable dates from them through influence.
Strong technical background in cloud platforms, containers, and modern software delivery. You can read a design, challenge an estimate, and tell a real blocker from a vague one.
Experience choosing metrics and setting targets, including working with incomplete data and deciding what is good enough to act on.
Executive communication skills, with the ability to deliver difficult news early and clearly to customer stakeholders, Docker leaders, and engineers.
High agency and comfort working 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 to Docker team gatherings.
Bonus Qualifications
Prior experience supporting a Forward Deployed Engineering, Professional Services, Solutions Engineering, or Customer Engineering organization.
