About this role
Leading the technical design and delivery of large backend initiatives across multiple teams, this position involves driving modular backend, service, data, and platform architecture while removing systemic bottlenecks. Engineers in this role define standards for APIs, compatibility, testing, security, and observability, while taking part in on-call rotations and incident response for production systems.
GitLab operates an intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps, serving millions of registered users and major organizations worldwide. The engineering team embraces artificial intelligence as a core productivity multiplier, expecting all members to incorporate AI into daily workflows to drive efficiency and innovation. Ideal candidates bring deep backend expertise, strong systems judgment, and the ability to influence technical direction without formal authority.
What you will do
- Lead the technical design and delivery of large backend initiatives that span across multiple teams and product groups.
- Drive modular backend, service, data, and platform architecture to modernize legacy systems and prevent fragmentation.
- Define and improve standards for APIs, testing, security, performance, observability, and operability.
- Take part in on-call and incident response for owned systems and act as a technical escalation point during complex incidents.
- Shape technical direction across teams through clear written proposals and decision records without relying on formal authority.
- Mentor senior and intermediate engineers while shepherding technical debt reduction and reusable patterns.
- Lead team-level adoption of AI-assisted and agentic workflows alongside necessary security and operational guardrails.
What you need
- Demonstrate a sustained record of technical leadership across more than one team or a broad product area.
- Bring deep backend architecture and production experience in complex applications, services, or platforms.
- Possess hands-on experience modernizing a monolith or legacy backend architecture in production using modular architecture approaches.
- Show a strong ability to create alignment and document decisions through clear written proposals and decision records.
- Maintain product judgment to balance customer outcomes, delivery speed, technical health, reliability, and long-term platform investment.
- Have experience mentoring engineers and shaping engineering standards through code review, documentation, and example.
- Bring production experience with AI-assisted or agentic engineering workflows and team adoption strategies.
Nice to have
- Go services and APIs at scale
- Kubernetes and cloud-native operations including deployment, scaling, and observability
- Rust adoption
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy?
The organization operates as a remote-first, asynchronous workplace where clear written communication and self-direction are the pillars of success.
What kind of AI work will I be doing?
You will lead team-level adoption of AI-assisted and agentic workflows, establish quality, security, privacy, and operational guardrails, and help engineers direct and validate agent output.
How does technical decision making happen without bureaucracy?
You will shape technical direction across teams through clear written proposals and decision records, partnering with product and engineering leadership on platform roadmaps.