Principal Sales Engineer

Who you are

• 8+ years in technical pre-sales as a Sales Engineer, Solutions Engineer, or Solutions Architect, selling infrastructure software, developer tools, or security products into complex enterprise or government accounts
• 3+ years selling into US Federal, covering DoW, Federal Civilian, or both, with a demonstrable record of technical wins inside federal acquisition cycles
• Working knowledge of federal security and accreditation frameworks: FedRAMP, NIST 800-53, DISA STIGs, DoW Impact Levels, and the ATO process
• Strong experience running competitive PoCs and PoVs with clearly defined success and exit criteria
• Solid understanding of containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Linux, and modern application architectures, plus the major cloud platforms including their government regions
• Ability to engage credibly with both senior government stakeholders and the engineers who will use the product
• Excellent communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills, including public speaking to technical government audiences
• US citizenship. Many of the agency environments and facilities this role supports require it for access
• Willingness to travel to agency sites, industry days, and partner events, up to 25%
• An active US security clearance. TS/SCI preferred. Docker does not sponsor personnel security clearances
• Experience with Docker specifically, or adjacent container and supply chain security ecosystems
• Experience with software supply chain security, SBOM tooling, artifact signing and attestation, or hardened image programs
• Experience with AI governance, secure AI or agentic development workflows, or MLOps in a regulated setting
• Experience selling through or alongside federal system integrators, resellers, and contract vehicles
• Prior military, civil service, or government contractor experience
• Experience supporting air-gapped or classified deployments
• Based in the Washington DC metro area

What the job involves

• Nowhere is that shift harder, or higher stakes, than in government. Federal agencies are being asked to adopt AI quickly while proving that every model, every artifact, and every build step is governed, attested, and auditable. We are hiring a Principal Sales Engineer to own the technical side of that conversation across the US Public Sector
• This is a single seat covering both the Department of War and Federal Civilian. You will be the technical face of Docker to agency CIOs, CISOs, program offices, and the platform teams who actually run the pipelines, partnering with our Federal Account Executives to shape requirements early and win competitive technical evaluations
• You will act as a trusted technical advisor and champion owner, partnering closely with Account Executives, Post Sales, Product, and our partner and reseller ecosystem to drive measurable mission and technical value through:
• Technical Selling and Deal Shaping
• AI Governance and Secure Software Supply Chain Thought Leadership
• Federal Compliance and Accreditation Fluency
• Technical Champion Ownership
• Customer and Internal Advocacy
• Competitive and Strategic Selling
• This role reports to the Director of Solutions Engineering and operates at the intersection of technical depth, mission understanding, and competitive selling discipline
• Lead deep technical discovery across program offices, platform and DevSecOps teams, security organizations, and AI/ML groups to understand:
• AI governance and responsible AI requirements, including agency guidance and NIST AI Risk Management Framework alignment
• Software supply chain risk posture and secure software development expectations
• Accreditation and authorization constraints, including ATO timelines and continuous authorization goals
• Air-gapped, classified, and disconnected environment requirements
• Shape technical requirements early in the acquisition cycle so that agency evaluation criteria reflect Docker's differentiated value in AI governance, container and artifact security, and software supply chain integrity
• Design, position, and execute structured PoCs and PoVs focused on:
• Policy enforcement and policy-as-code
• Image and artifact integrity, provenance, and attestation
• SBOM generation and visibility
• Hardened and minimal base images for regulated workloads, including FIPS and STIG-aligned variants
• AI workload governance controls and sandboxed agentic development
• Secure build pipelines in constrained and disconnected networks
• Define clear success criteria, evaluation frameworks, and executive-ready value summaries that a program executive can carry into a funding conversation
• Influence decision-making through demos, workshops, architecture reviews, technical exchange meetings, and executive briefings
• Translate complex AI security and governance capabilities into mission outcomes for CIOs, CISOs, Chief Data and AI Officers, and program leadership
• Establish credibility as a trusted advisor on:
• Responsible AI development practices in government
• Secure AI model and agent lifecycle management
• Software supply chain integrity and provenance
• Container and artifact security in accredited environments
• DevSecOps practice in federal platform organizations
• Guide agency teams in implementing governance controls across AI-enabled SDLC workflows, including identity and access governance for AI workloads and policy-as-code enforcement
• Represent Docker publicly in the federal community through industry days, agency technical exchange meetings, conference sessions, webinars, and written content such as reference architectures and whitepapers
• Serve as the team's subject matter expert on how Docker's products fit inside federal security and accreditation frameworks, and on what evidence agency assessors and authorizing officials will ask for
• Position and explain the compliance artifacts Docker Hardened Images produce, including FIPS image variants built on FIPS 140 validated cryptographic modules, STIG scan results aligned to the DoW General Purpose Operating System SRG, and the signed attestations that accompany both. Help customers understand precisely what those artifacts do and do not establish for their own authorization package
• Work fluently with the language and constraints of FedRAMP, NIST 800-53 and 800-171, the NIST Secure Software Development Framework, DISA STIGs and SRGs, DoW Impact Levels, and continuous ATO models
• Support responses to RFIs, RFPs, security questionnaires, and technical evaluation criteria, partnering with Sales, Legal, Product, and Security
• Advise on deployment patterns for on-premises, air-gapped, and government cloud environments, and work with partners and system integrators where they carry the delivery
• Build, own, and expand relationships with technical champions across security, platform, DevSecOps, and AI teams inside agencies and their supporting integrators
• Leverage champion relationships to influence broader buying groups, shape requirements, and uncover expansion across programs and sub-agencies
• Maintain engagement beyond initial award so outcomes are realized and renewals and expansions are earned
• Advocate for federal customer needs with Product and Engineering, providing clear, actionable feedback informed by field experience. You will be the primary voice inside Docker for what the public sector actually needs
• Coordinate with Post Sales and Support to ensure continuity across the customer lifecycle, including in environments where Docker staff have limited access
• Develop reusable technical assets (workshops, demos, reference architectures, compliance briefings, enablement content) that scale across agencies and across the wider Solutions Engineering team
• Actively support competitive motions, identifying differentiation and influencing evaluation criteria throughout the acquisition cycle
• Partner with Account Executives, channel partners, and system integrators to develop technical win strategies for strategic federal programs
• Support the technical side of contract vehicle and partner-led motions where Docker is sold through a reseller or integrator
• First 30 days
• You will be welcomed with a first-in-class onboarding experience that includes equipment setup, a swag package, and a collaborative training program with an onboarding peer
• You will learn to navigate our sales tools: Salesforce, Opine, Sigma, and Docker itself
• You will meet your Account Executives, map the account and program landscape, and read into the in-flight federal opportunities
• At the end of your first month you will have a proficient grasp of the tools and activities necessary to be successful in the role
• First 60 days
• You will be actively supporting live federal opportunities, running discovery and demos alongside your AEs
• You will have connected with every member of the Solutions Engineering team and with the Product owners for the areas most relevant to the public sector
• You will have a working point of view on where Docker fits in the accreditation posture of your top agencies, and where the gaps are
• First 90 days
• You will be running PoCs independently, with defined success criteria and executive-ready summaries
• You will have produced at least one reusable public sector asset, such as a reference architecture, demo, or compliance-focused briefing
• You will be operating independently at full speed and will be the recognized technical authority for Docker in the US Public Sector

Benefits

• 100% company paid medical premiums for employees and dependents
• Flexible Time Off Policy
• Employer Paid Holidays
• Generous Parental Leave (after 6 months of employment)
• Home Office Set Up Budget
• Monthly Technology Stipend
• Training Allowances
• Life and Disability Insurance
• Retirement Plans
• Virtual and In-Person Social Events
• Docker Swag
• Quarterly Hackathons