Senior Principal Program Manager, Engineering Business Operation

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!

This is a remote position open to candidates based in the United States, with preference in San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA. If you’re located in or near Seattle, WA, we also have an office space available should you prefer to work on-site.

As Docker continues to scale across multiple product lines and internal platforms, we are creating a leader of Business Operations role to help shape strategy, drive operational alignment, and strengthen the overall rhythm and effectiveness of the organization.

This is a high-impact strategic role responsible for orchestrating complex programs that improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and establish engineering excellence practices across all of Docker's product and platform teams.

This role requires exceptional business acumen aligned to fast-paced; fast-growth technical ecosystems; strategic thinking; and the ability to influence and align stakeholders across the entire organization. You'll work directly with executive leadership to translate high-level business objectives into actionable technical programs while navigating complex interdependencies across Engineering, Product, Finance, Operations, and Go-to-Market teams.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the company’s operating rhythm, including planning cycles, business reviews, roadmap forums, and cross-functional execution cadences.

• Partner with executive and senior engineering leadership to align strategy, priorities, resource allocation, and execution across product and platform organizations.

• Lead high-impact, company-wide initiatives spanning operational efficiency, cost optimization, technical debt reduction, and large-scale platform or system migrations.

• Translate strategic business objectives into executable programs and technical roadmaps, driving coordination, momentum, and follow-through across teams.

• Establish visibility into business, product, and engineering health through metrics, dashboards, reporting frameworks, and actionable operational insights.

• Design and implement lightweight systems, standards, and frameworks that improve clarity, accountability, and decision-making without adding unnecessary process.

• Identify and remove friction in the operating model, enabling teams to move faster with confidence in a fast-changing environment.

• Lead cost management and optimization efforts, including cloud infrastructure efficiency, vendor consolidation, and improved resource allocation.

• Define and track company-wide measures of operational efficiency and engineering productivity, ensuring outcomes are measurable and visible.

• Establish and elevate program management excellence, including mentoring TPMs and setting best practices for large-scale execution.

• Prepare leaders for key decision forums, including board discussions, planning reviews, and product or platform strategy sessions.

• Support people and culture initiatives that strengthen onboarding, communication, leadership readiness, and organizational health in a distributed environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in business operations, strategy & operations, program leadership, or related cross-functional roles, including 4+ years at Staff level or above.

• Proven track record leading company-wide, multi-year transformation initiatives at high-growth technology companies ($100M+ revenue).

• Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and operate organizational or company-level operating rhythms (planning cycles, governance, execution cadences).

• Extensive experience leading large-scale, complex programs (>$5M budgets) involving engineering, finance, operations, and executive leadership.

• Extensive background in cloud platforms, distributed systems, AI, and enterprise infrastructure, with strong business acumen.

• Experience with FinOps, cloud cost management, cost optimization, and operational efficiency programs at scale.

• Strong understanding of SaaS business models, unit economics, and operational metrics, with a data-driven approach to decision-making.

• Exceptional ability to influence and align senior leaders without direct authority, including experience presenting to executive leadership, Boards, and investors.

• Proven success establishing company-wide standards, processes, and best practices while navigating organizational change and scaling challenges.

• Expert-level program management skills, including risk management, dependency coordination, stakeholder alignment, and execution in high-ambiguity environments.

• Advanced analytical capabilities, including defining success metrics, creating data and reporting visibility, and using data to measure impact and drive outcomes.

• Exceptional communication, facilitation, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to translate strategy into clear, actionable plans.

• Leadership style grounded in humility, collaboration, and respect, with a strong track record of enabling others to succeed.

• Experience working in remote or distributed organizations.

What to Expect

First 30 Days

• Learn Docker’s financial model, budgets, major cost drivers, and forecasting processes.

• Build strong relationships with Finance, Procurement, People, and Engineering leadership.

• Review current budgeting, spend tracking, procurement, vendor management, and hiring workflows.

• Assess visibility into costs, headcount, and ROI (cloud, vendors, tooling, hiring).

• Identify quick wins for cost control, spend governance, or process simplification.

First 90 Days

• Own engineering business operations rhythms: budgets, forecasts, spend reviews, and headcount governance.

• Lead at least one high-impact initiative (e.g., cloud cost optimization, vendor consolidation).

• Improve cost and headcount visibility with clear, actionable dashboards.

• Align hiring plans and spend decisions with business priorities.

• Introduce lightweight procurement and vendor management standards.

• Advise executives on financial trade-offs and investment decisions.

• Deliver early, measurable cost or efficiency gains.

One Year Outlook

• Measure a significant reduction of overhead on engineering leaders for these areas of business focus and increased their value-add partnership as deep owners of their businesses.

• Drive sustained improvements in engineering cost efficiency and spend discipline.

• Establish scalable budgeting, forecasting, procurement, and vendor management practices.

• Create durable systems for headcount planning and hiring prioritization.

• Improve predictability, transparency, and ROI across engineering investments.

• Become a trusted partner to executives on planning, trade-offs, and growth decisions.

We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on April 13, 2024.

Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here.

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

Docker embraces diversity and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our company will be.

Due to the remote nature of this role, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

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