Staff Backend Engineer, Developer Experience

As a Staff Backend Engineer in the Developer Experience group, you’ll work cross-functionally to identify and improve the engineering experience across GitLab’s internal engineering teams. We’re at a pivotal time in transforming our testing approach and development experience to enable engineers to deliver high-quality code efficiently and with confidence.

Developer Experience currently has six, globally distributed teams of Backend Engineers and Software Engineers in Test. This role will work across the entire group to help us identify and remove the biggest points of friction that affect development at GitLab. Expect to split your time between hands-on coding in Ruby and Go, designing scalable solutions, and helping every team deliver.

This is a highly visible role with strong company-wide support. You’ll be instrumental in shifting our culture and practices toward a cohesive Developer Experience Platform strategy—backed by buy-in and appetite for change.

Some examples of our projects:

• Identifying and removing the source of flakiness in our test pipelines.

• Introducing comprehensive test coverage reporting to guide decisions about what and when to test.

• Standardizing logging libraries and documentation for consistent component logs.

• Providing stable, configurable development environments.

What You’ll Do

• Drive Technical Excellence Across Teams: Provide hands-on engineering contributions and technical leadership across six Developer Experience teams, jumping in to unblock critical work or accelerate high-impact initiatives.

• Champion Engineering Needs: Partner with engineering teams across GitLab to identify pain points, gather feedback, and translate day-to-day frustrations into actionable improvements for the roadmap.

• Transform Testing at Scale: Modernize our testing to support GitLab's growth—ensuring engineers have fast, reliable tools that catch issues early without slowing them down.

• Optimize CI/CD Pipelines: Reduce merge and CI friction by building workflows that deliver fast, actionable feedback—helping engineers iterate confidently and ship faster.

• Break Down Systemic Bottlenecks: Collaborate with Platform, Product, and Infrastructure teams to identify and eliminate architectural and process friction.

• Shape Engineering Culture: Foster a culture of continuous learning, inclusion, and improvement where great developer experience is a shared value across the organization.

What You’ll Bring

• Deep experience with developer tooling, DevEx 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 with a passion for empowering developers.

• Alignment with GitLab values: collaboration, iteration, and transparency.

(Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application.)

Compensation & Benefits

• United States Salary Range: $131,600 - $282,000 USD

• (The base salary range for this role’s listed level is currently for residents of the United States only. Grade level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, and geographic location. The base salary range does not include any bonuses, equity, or benefits.)

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

• Home office support