Principal Engineer, Production Engineering

GitLab is an open-core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations. Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating human progress. Our platform unites teams and organizations, breaking down barriers and redefining what's possible in software development. Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise and Duo Agent Platform, customers get AI benefits at every stage of the SDLC.

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.

An overview of this role

GitLab.com is one of the largest DevSecOps platforms in the world. As a Principal Engineer on the Production Engineering team, you will shape how it scales for reliability, performance, and global reach.

This is a career-defining opportunity to guide the technical strategy for GitLab’s multi-tenant SaaS platform, tackling challenges that few companies face at this scale. You will influence infrastructure decisions across Observability, Disaster Recovery, Fleet Management, and Service Delivery, while partnering with product and executive leadership to align technology with business outcomes.

Your work will set the foundation for how millions of users experience GitLab and how thousands of engineers across the company deliver value.

What you will do

• Own the long-term roadmap for Production Engineering, driving modernization and scale initiatives that directly impact GitLab.com availability and performance
• Lead design for complex distributed systems challenges such as sharding, multi-tenant isolation, observability, and failure recovery
• Collaborate with leaders across engineering and product to ensure infrastructure choices deliver both technical and business value
• Anticipate evolving needs at scale and define patterns that make our platform more resilient, efficient, and cost-effective
• Mentor senior and staff engineers, multiplying impact by raising technical excellence across teams
• Champion observability and production readiness practices that improve the speed and quality at which we ship features to customers, along with improving reliability for customers worldwide

What you will bring

• Proven expertise designing and operating distributed systems at massive scale in SaaS or cloud platforms
• Strong background in backend, reliability, or platform engineering, with hands-on experience in Go, Ruby, or similar languages
• Deep understanding of observability, incident response, and strategies for ensuring reliability in complex systems
• Ability to drive alignment across teams and influence senior leaders without formal authority
• Track record of delivering technical outcomes that shaped business direction
• Strong communicator who can simplify complex topics for engineers, executives, and customers alike
• Passion for mentoring and developing senior technical talent

About the team

Production Engineering is responsible for the reliability, performance, and scalability of GitLab.com, one of the largest SaaS platforms in the world. The team builds the infrastructure and practices that keep GitLab.com available and resilient, covering areas such as observability, disaster recovery, fleet management, and service delivery.

Our mission is to ensure every GitLab.com customer benefits from a stable, performant, and production-ready platform. We partner across engineering to embed reliability into how GitLab ships software while balancing modernization with efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

As part of this team, you will be at the forefront of GitLab.com’s evolution. You will help guide the strategy for operating at massive scale, solve complex distributed systems challenges, and shape the foundation on which thousands of engineers and millions of users rely every day.

How GitLab will support you

• Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
• All remote, asynchronous work environment
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and development budget
• Parental leave
• Home office support

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._

The base salary range for this role’s listed level is currently for residents of the United States only. This range is intended to reflect the role's base salary rate in locations throughout the US. Grade level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, equity with other team members, alignment with market data, and geographic location. The base salary range does not include any bonuses, equity, or benefits. See more information on our benefits and equity. Sales roles are also eligible for incentive pay targeted at up to 100% of the offered base salary.

United States Salary Range

$171,400 - $367,200 USD

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