[Hiring] Backend Engineer @GitLab

Role Description

We're looking for a Backend Engineer to join our Repository Services team in GitLab's Create stage. The team owns the repository side of Source Code: how code gets into a repository, who may change it, and how those changes are verified. We build this as an access layer on the primitives the Gitaly team provides, for GitLab's own features and for the artificial intelligence agents now writing and pushing code alongside people.

You'll work in one of GitLab's oldest and most complex product areas, using Ruby and GraphQL across GitLab.com, self-managed instances, and GitLab Dedicated. Repository Services is a new team, and its first months are about reliability and support, so you'll spend real time on:

• Performance and structured query language tuning
• Caching
• Rate limiting
• Testing
• Observability
• Resiliency

You'll collaborate with product management, product design, testing, security, user experience research, technical writing, Gitaly, Code Review, and the other Source Code teams.

What you'll do

• Develop secure, well-tested, performant features and improvements using Ruby and GraphQL.
• Work through complex requirements and legacy constraints to deliver clear solutions while protecting the reliability of this critical system.
• Design and maintain backend services, application programming interfaces, data models, and business logic that control how code reaches a repository, who may change it, and how it is verified.
• Build on the primitives Gitaly provides and work closely with the Gitaly team.
• Triage and fix bugs and support requests for the features the team owns.
• Collaborate across functions and teams, both asynchronously and synchronously, and involve domain experts when their input will improve the outcome.
• Use artificial intelligence agents for well-scoped work when they can speed up delivery without sacrificing quality, and critically review their output.
• Write maintainable code that follows GitLab's standards and contribute to constructive code reviews.
• Help strengthen reliability by monitoring production health metrics, participating in Tier 2 on-call, troubleshooting incidents, contributing to root cause analysis, and improving observability and resiliency.
• Share knowledge through code review, technical documentation, and everyday collaboration while learning from others.

Qualifications

• Professional experience building backend web applications, services, or application programming interfaces, with experience using Ruby and GraphQL.
• An understanding of relational databases, structured query language, data modeling, caching, background processing, and backend performance practices.
• Experience contributing to user-facing workflows and maintaining their underlying systems.
• Experience writing backend unit and integration tests, with familiarity with the testing pyramid, Git, and collaborative code review processes.
• Experience using artificial intelligence coding agents and reviewing their output, or an interest in building these skills in a complex monorepo.
• Clear written and spoken English communication skills, including sharing useful status updates in a remote, asynchronous environment.
• The ability to manage assigned priorities, work through ambiguity, take ownership of your work, and seek guidance when needed.

About the team

Repository Services is a small backend team in the Create stage, formed in September 2026 when Source Code split into focused teams. As the split is finalized we expect to own:

• Repository mirroring
• Git Large File Storage (LFS)
• Protected branches and Branch Rules
• Push rules
• Code Owners (shared with Code Review)
• Commit and tag signing

We build on Gitaly's primitives and meet regularly with the Gitaly team, and our work serves GitLab.com, self-managed instances, and GitLab Dedicated.

Salary Range

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.

United States Salary Range: $115,200 — $194,400 USD

Benefits

• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental Leave