Senior Engineering Manager, Design

Here is the formatted version of the Engineering Manager job description. I have maintained the consistent structure used for the previous roles, highlighting the unique intersection of engineering and design within this specific organization.

Engineering Manager - Upstream Studios

GitLab (Pajamas Design System & Documentation Platform)

📍 Location: Remote-Global (US Salary Range: $195,000 - $240,000 USD. All roles are remote, but subject to specific location-based eligibility and regional salary benchmarking.)

About the Role

As the first Engineering Manager embedded within the Upstream Studios organization at GitLab, you'll lead a focused team of Engineers responsible for two foundational surfaces: the Pajamas Design System, which powers the coherence of the entire GitLab product, and docs.gitlab.com, the documentation platform serving millions of users and contributors worldwide.

This is a rare opportunity to define engineering leadership inside a design organization. You’ll report to the Chief Design Officer and partner closely with Product Design, Technical Writing, Localization, Marketing, and Product Management. The design system is a contribution-based, company-wide platform that engineers across the entire organization depend on; building these partnerships and facilitating contributions to Pajamas will be central to your success.

What You’ll Do

• Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of engineers working across the design system and documentation site.

• Function Definition: Define and build the engineering practice within Upstream Studios, shaping how this new function takes form.

• Technical Guidance: Guide architecture and technical decisions for design tokens, component architecture, accessibility standards, and documentation infrastructure (performance, reliability, localization).

• Advocacy: Advocate for the strategic value of a well-maintained design system and documentation platform. Drive engineering quality regarding technical debt, security, and platform reliability.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Translate design and content needs into scalable technical solutions by partnering with Product Design and Technical Writing.

What You’ll Bring

• Leadership Experience: Track record of leading infrastructure, platform, or development teams and building values-aligned groups.

• Design System Expertise: Deep knowledge of design tokens, component architecture, and contribution models.

• Technical Background: Professional experience with Git, Vue.js, Hugo, and docs-as-code workflows. Familiarity with Elasticsearch, Ruby/Go, and CI/CD practices.

• Localization at Scale: Experience building and supporting multi-lingual sites and complex localization workflows.

• Platform Scaling: Expertise in running large, consumer-grade platforms with a focus on accessibility (WCAG), performance, and security.

• Communication: Ability to clearly communicate complex technical or organizational problems and propose iterative solutions in an asynchronous environment.

• Agility: Comfort working in a highly agile, intensely iterative software development process with a passion for open-source tools.

About the Team

Upstream Studios is the full-stack experience organization for GitLab. We integrate research, design, frontend engineering, documentation, and brand into a unified delivery pipeline. We imagine it, design it, document it, and ship it—shaping how customers experience GitLab from the first impression to the final deployment.