Director, Solutions Engineering

Docker has been one of the most loved brands in developer tooling, trusted by more than 20 million monthly users and over 20 billion container image pulls. From solo founders to the world's largest companies, developers rely on Docker to build, share, and run their applications across our suite of products including Docker Desktop, Docker Hub, and Docker Scout. We are a globally distributed, remote-first team building the tools that define how software gets built and delivered. As AI agents redefine software development, Docker is at the center of that shift, providing the sandboxed environments, verified images, and secure infrastructure that make autonomous workflows trustworthy by default. As Docker scales its EMEA business, we're seeking an experienced Director of Solutions Engineering to build and lead a world-class SE team across EMEA, with AI Governance as the top priority. AI Governance is the fastest-growing part of our EMEA business and one of the fastest-moving segments in enterprise software: customer requirements evolve rapidly, the competitive landscape is intensely dynamic, and Docker ships new product capabilities at pace to stay ahead of both. This role keeps a fast-scaling team ahead of all three. ABOUT THE ROLE As Director of Solutions Engineering for EMEA, you will lead a high-performing, fully remote pre-sales organization of 6 SEs, nearly doubling by end of fiscal year, responsible for technical alignment and customer success across Docker's largest accounts in the region. You will partner directly with EMEA Sales Directors as a peer to align SE coverage with a fast-growing book of business, and collaborate closely with Sales, Product, and Engineering to turn rapid change into consistent technical wins and clear business value. RESPONSIBILITIES DRIVE THE AI GOVERNANCE MOTION AS A TOP PRIORITY ● Make it the team's number-one focus, owning the technical win on Docker's largest AI Governance opportunities across EMEA. ● Keep the team ahead of a fast-moving segment where customer requirements, Docker's products, and the competitive landscape are all changing constantly, and translate that change into current demos, proofs-of-value, and sales plays. ● Partner with Product and Engineering to feed AI Governance customer requirements into roadmap and prioritization, and to get the team early access to new releases. SCALE AND DEVELOP THE TEAM ● Hire, onboard, and ramp SEs quickly to meet AI Governance pipeline demand. ● Build and maintain SE enablement programs and learning paths that make new hires productive fast and keep the team current as products and use cases evolve. ● Operate as a player/coach, running the full management cadence (1:1s, pipeline syncs, QBRs, enablement) while staying close to the technical win on marquee accounts. ● Balance SE coverage and workload across a growing roster of Account Executives so the highest-value opportunities are well supported. TECHNICAL SALES & CUSTOMER SUCCESS ● Partner with the EMEA Sales organization to drive technical closure, guiding discovery, solution design, and proof-of-value to achieve customer success and sales goals. ● Own the technical-win motion on Docker's largest accounts, including AI Governance, Sandboxes, Docker Hardened Image, MCP Catalog, and runtime container security. ● Establish repeatable processes for discovery, solution design, and proof validation that highlight Docker's differentiated value. OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE & CROSS-FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP ● Define metrics, performance standards, and success measures for technical sales excellence, and manage to them. ● Partner with Sales leadership on capacity planning, team design, and headcount to support a rapidly growing team. ● Contribute to the SE career framework and broader Customer Engineering enablement initiatives. ● Coach, mentor, and empower your team to engage effectively with enterprise customers and communicate complex technical concepts clearly. QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED ● 10+ years of experience in technical sales or pre-sales for distributed systems, developer platforms, or cloud infrastructure, including supporting enterprise accounts. ● 5+ years in management, including hiring, mentoring, and rapidly scaling high-performing pre-sales or solutions engineering teams. ● Track record of building and scaling teams in fast-moving, high-growth technology segments where requirements change constantly. ● Proven success leading teams that support software supply chain security, security governance, DevSecOps, or developer productivity technologies. ● Familiarity with AI Governance and AI-driven development, and the ability to keep a team current in a rapidly evolving space. ● Deep understanding of containerization, cloud-native architectures, CI/CD, and developer tools. ● Demonstrated ability to build scalable SE enablement (onboarding, learning paths, technical deep-dives). ● Strong communication and executive presentation skills, with the ability to build trust across technical and business audiences and to partner as a peer with Sales leadership. PREFERRED ● Operational experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or similar container-based platforms. ● Experience with application security and securing the software supply chain (SBOMs, image scanning, secure delivery pipelines, hardened images). ● Hands-on exposure to AI Governance, AI agent enablement, or coding assistants. ● Background in software development, scripting, or infrastructure-as-code. ● Familiarity with Salesforce and enablement platforms such as MindTickle. ● Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). ● Willingness to travel (~30%) to support key customer engagements and events. WHAT TO EXPECT First 30 Days ● Onboard on Docker's platform with a focus on the AI Governance portfolio, key customers, and EMEA go-to-market strategy. ● Establish relationships with your team, EMEA Sales Directors, and cross-functional partners in Product and Engineering. ● Assess current SE coverage across EMEA, AI Governance pipeline, and the team's enablement and hiring needs. First 90 Days ● Develop and align a 12-month plan with Sales and Product leadership, including a hiring and capacity plan to scale the team against AI Governance demand. ● Stand up or refresh SE learning paths that ramp new hires quickly and keep the team sharp on shifting customer requirements, competition, and product releases. ● Begin executing on improving technical closure rates and SE coverage on the largest AI Governance opportunities. One Year Outlook ● Lead a high-performing EMEA SE team that has built a culture of technical excellence — where SEs consistently drive technical closure by deeply understanding customer problems and confidently demonstrating how Docker solves them. ● Establish AI Governance as a repeatable, well-instrumented technical-win motion with documented processes, plays, and metrics. ● Become a trusted advisor and peer across Sales, Product, and Engineering by championing customer insights and technical excellence in a fast-moving market. Docker does not offer visa sponsorship for this role.   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 (after 6 months of employment) - Technology stipend equivalent to $100 USD 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. #LI-REMOTE