Staff Backend Engineer, Developer Experience

Details

GitLab is an intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. As a Staff Backend Engineer in the Developer Experience group, you will work cross-functionally to identify and improve the engineering experience across GitLab’s internal engineering teams. The role focuses on transforming testing and development experiences so engineers can deliver high-quality code efficiently and confidently.

Developer Experience consists of six globally distributed teams of Backend Engineers and Software Engineers in Test. This role works across the group to identify and remove development friction, splitting time between hands-on coding in Ruby and Go, designing scalable solutions, and helping teams deliver. You will also help shape GitLab’s engineering culture and Developer Experience Platform strategy.

Example Projects

• Identifying and removing sources of flakiness in test pipelines
• Introducing comprehensive test coverage reporting to guide testing decisions
• Standardizing logging libraries and documentation for consistent logs across features and components
• Providing stable, configurable development environments

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on engineering contributions and technical leadership across six Developer Experience teams.
• Unblock critical work and accelerate high-impact initiatives.
• Partner with engineering teams across GitLab to identify pain points, gather feedback, and translate frustrations into improvements for the Developer Experience roadmap.
• Modernize testing to support GitLab’s growth with fast, reliable tools that catch issues early.
• Optimize CI/CD workflows to reduce merge and continuous integration friction and provide fast, actionable feedback.
• Collaborate with Platform, Product, and Infrastructure teams to identify and eliminate architectural and process bottlenecks.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, inclusion, and improvement across the organization.
• Incorporate AI into daily workflows as a productivity multiplier.

Requirements

• Deep experience with developer tooling, Developer Experience strategies, and testing frameworks at scale.
• Experience leading platform or transformation initiatives across multiple teams.
• Proven ability to influence without authority and collaborate across functions.
• Familiarity with DevOps workflows and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in a remote-first environment.
• A product mindset and passion for empowering developers.
• Alignment with GitLab values, especially collaboration, iteration, and transparency.
• Experience with Ruby and Go is relevant to the hands-on engineering work described for the role.

Benefits

• Benefits supporting health, finances, and well-being
• Flexible paid time off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity compensation and Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental leave

GitLab welcomes candidates with varying levels of experience and notes that candidates do not need to meet every requirement. The company is an equal opportunity workplace and provides accommodations during the recruiting process when needed.