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GitLab is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to design, implement, and evolve product capabilities while solving high-scope backend problems and influencing the technical direction of teams. In this role, you will move beyond assigned work to actively improve the quality, reliability, and performance of systems used by millions globally.
You will work across product, frontend, infrastructure, data, and security boundaries, making sound architectural trade-offs and communicating complex ideas clearly in an asynchronous, remote-first environment. Key responsibilities include designing and shipping moderate to complex backend features with minimal guidance, advocating for product quality and security, mentoring associate and intermediate engineers, and diagnosing performance and reliability issues at scale.
A critical aspect of this role is integrating agentic AI into production engineering workflows—moving beyond simple prompt engineering to build resilient, AI-assisted systems. You will evaluate AI effectiveness, coach others on responsible use, and help define backend standards for style, maintainability, testing, APIs, and operational readiness.
You should bring deep backend expertise in architecture, APIs, data systems, and performance tuning in complex product environments. Proficiency in modern backend languages and systems programming is essential, along with architectural judgment in designing modular backend boundaries and migration-safe architectures. Proven experience building or operating agentic systems in production is required, including expertise in architecting loops, tool-use, and error-handling strategies that ensure reliability at scale.
Additional valuable experience includes work with high-throughput distributed systems, concurrency profiling, and containerized production operations such as Kubernetes. You will thrive in a high-performance culture that embraces AI as a core productivity multiplier and values clear written communication and self-direction.
