Senior Backend Engineer, SSCS: Supply Chain

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100* trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster. The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software. *Fortune 500® is a registered trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, used under license. Claim based on GitLab data. Fortune 100 refers to the top 20% ranked companies in the 2025 Fortune 500 list, published in June 2025. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of GitLab. AN OVERVIEW OF THIS ROLE As a Staff Backend Engineer at GitLab, you will help shape a major investment in our Software Supply Chain Security offering. In this role, you'll serve as a senior technical leader for backend systems that help customers secure how software is built, verified, and delivered inside the GitLab platform. You'll work on foundational capabilities across package policy enforcement, build provenance, artifact signing, and malicious package detection, with a strong focus on enterprise-grade security and performance. You'll define architecture before systems are built, write clear technical proposals, and guide implementation across interconnected parts of GitLab such as CI/CD, dependency management, and security workflows. This role is a strong fit for someone who enjoys solving complex backend problems, influencing technical direction across teams, and building security features that matter to customers facing real threats. You'll do this in GitLab's remote, asynchronous, and values-driven environment, where written communication, ownership, and teamwork are central to how we work. Some examples of our projects: * Dependency Firewall for package policy enforcement across supported registries * Artifact attestation and signing using supply chain security standards and the Sigstore ecosystem WHAT YOU’LL DO * Define and drive the technical architecture for the SSCS Add-On, including backend systems for package policy enforcement, provenance generation, artifact signing, and malicious package detection. * Lead design and implementation work for Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts (SLSA) Level 2 and Level 3 capabilities within GitLab CI/CD. * Architect integrations with Sigstore services such as Cosign, Fulcio, and Rekor, including approaches for signing workflows, verification, and trust boundaries. * Design backend services and request paths that support allow, deny, and quarantine package policies with strong performance and reliability expectations. * Review merge requests with a focus on security, architectural consistency, maintainability, and test quality. * Mentor Backend Engineers across experience levels, helping raise the technical bar through design guidance, feedback, and hiring participation. * Partner with Product, Infrastructure, Authentication, Authorization, and Security counterparts on cross-team technical decisions. * Contribute to relevant open source and industry conversations, including working groups related to software supply chain security where appropriate. WHAT YOU’LL BRING * Strong experience building backend applications with Ruby on Rails in a high-scale production environment. * Professional experience with Go for backend or infrastructure-oriented services. * A track record of leading architecture across multiple systems and influencing technical direction through strong engineering judgment. * Experience writing clear technical proposals, request for comments documents, and decision records in an async, documentation-first environment. * A solid security mindset and comfort working on products where trust, risk reduction, and secure defaults are central requirements. * Familiarity with software supply chain security concepts such as build provenance, artifact signing, dependency security, or software bill of materials. * Strong teamwork and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across distributed teams and functions. * Interest in GitLab's values and in building secure, scalable product capabilities that help customers ship software with confidence. ABOUT THE TEAM The SSCS Add-On team is part of GitLab's Software Supply Chain Security stage and is focused on building a commercial offering that addresses real supply chain security challenges for enterprise customers. The team works on capabilities that combine multiple parts of the GitLab product into a more complete security solution for organizations with strong compliance and risk management needs. The work is both technically interesting and strategically important. The team is building in a space shaped by fast-moving threats, evolving customer requirements, and close coordination with nearby teams across the broader security area. That combination creates an environment where engineers can contribute to product direction while solving practical backend challenges in a visible part of GitLab's platform. For more on how related teams work, see Team Handbook Page. HOW GITLAB SUPPORTS FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES * Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being * Flexible Paid Time Off  * Team Member Resource Groups * Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan * Growth and Development Fund * Parental Leave  Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Country Hiring Guidelines: GitLab hires new team members in countries around the world. All of our roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process.   Privacy Policy: Please review our Recruitment Privacy Policy. Your privacy is important to us. GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. GitLab’s policies and practices relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression), national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information (including family medical history), discharge status from the military, protected veteran status (which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans), or any other basis protected by law. GitLab will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. See also GitLab’s EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100* trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster. The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software. *Fortune 500® is a registered trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, used under license. Claim based on GitLab data. Fortune 100 refers to the top 20% ranked companies in the 2025 Fortune 500 list, published in June 2025. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of GitLab. AN OVERVIEW OF THIS ROLE As a Senior Backend Engineer on the GitLab Upgrades team, you’ll help self-managed customers run GitLab reliably by building and maintaining the infrastructure, tooling, and automation behind our deployment options. You’ll work across Omnibus GitLab, GitLab Helm Charts, the GitLab Environment Toolkit (Get), and the GitLab Operator to make GitLab easier to deploy, more secure by default, and scalable across major cloud providers and a wide range of customer environments. In this role, you’ll partner closely with engineering teams and act as a bridge to customer needs, improving installation, upgrade, and day-to-day operations for production-grade GitLab deployments. Some examples of our projects: * Evolving Omnibus GitLab, Helm Charts, GET, and the GitLab Operator to support validated reference architectures for enterprise-scale deployments * Building automation pipelines and observability into deployment tooling to validate, test, and operate GitLab across Kubernetes and other self-managed environments WHAT YOU’LL DO * Maintain and evolve the Omnibus GitLab package to support reliable, production-ready self-managed deployments, improving deployment stability, increasing upgrade success rates, and reducing escalation rates. * Develop and improve GitLab Helm Charts so core components integrate cleanly and scale across supported environments, reducing deployment friction, shortening time to deploy, and improving operational consistency at scale. * Enhance the GitLab Environment Toolkit (Get), validated reference architectures, and the GitLab Operator for secure, Kubernetes-native lifecycle management, improving reliability, strengthening security baselines, and accelerating adoption in customer environments. * Improve installation, upgrade, and operational workflows across deployment methods to create a consistent experience for self-managed customers, reducing operational overhead, lowering failure rates, and increasing consistency across deployment methods. * Partner with Security to address vulnerabilities and deliver secure defaults and configurations in the deployment stack, reducing exposure to vulnerabilities and improving baseline security across self-managed deployments. * Build and maintain automation and continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines that validate and test Omnibus, Charts, Get, and the Operator, increasing release confidence, improving test coverage, and reducing regressions across deployment tooling. * Work closely with Distribution Engineers, Site Reliability Engineers, Release Managers, and Development teams to integrate new features into deployment methods and keep them reliable, scalable, and aligned with customer needs, improving delivery readiness and reducing operational issues after release. * Guide architectural direction, mentor backend engineers, and contribute to the roadmap for self-managed delivery, improving technical quality, accelerating delivery effectiveness, and strengthening team execution. WHAT YOU’LL BRING * Experience operating backend services in production, including deployment, monitoring, and maintenance in Kubernetes- and Helm-based environments. * Proficiency in Go for building observable and resilient services, with working knowledge of Ruby as a useful addition. * Hands-on practice with infrastructure as code, including tools such as Terraform, and with managing infrastructure across cloud providers such as Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, or Microsoft Azure. * Knowledge of database design, operations, and troubleshooting, especially for PostgreSQL in secure and scalable setups. * Knowledge of secure, scalable, and reliable deployment practices, including service scaling and rollout strategies. * Familiarity with observability tools and patterns such as Prometheus and Grafana to monitor system health and performance. * Ability to work effectively in large codebases and coordinate across distributed, cross-functional teams using clear written communication. * Openness to transferable experience from related backend or infrastructure roles, along with the ability to write user-focused documentation and implementation guides. ABOUT THE TEAM The Upgrades team is part of GitLab Delivery and focuses on helping self-managed customers run GitLab successfully in their own environments, from smaller deployments to large enterprise footprints. We own deployment and operational tooling across our work on Omnibus GitLab, Helm Charts, Get, and the GitLab Operator, and we work as a globally distributed, all-remote group that works asynchronously with Site Reliability Engineering, Release, Security, and Development teams across regions. We are focused on making self-managed GitLab easier to deploy, upgrade, secure, and operate at scale. For more on how we work, see Team Handbook Page. HOW GITLAB SUPPORTS FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES * Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being * Flexible Paid Time Off  * Team Member Resource Groups * Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan * Growth and Development Fund * Parental Leave  Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Country Hiring Guidelines: GitLab hires new team members in countries around the world. All of our roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process.   Privacy Policy: Please review our Recruitment Privacy Policy. Your privacy is important to us. GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. GitLab’s policies and practices relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression), national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information (including family medical history), discharge status from the military, protected veteran status (which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans), or any other basis protected by law. GitLab will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. See also GitLab’s EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.