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GitLab is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to join the Developer Experience group, a cross-functional team focused on improving engineering productivity and developer workflows across GitLab's internal teams. This is a highly visible, company-wide strategic role with strong executive support.
You'll work across six globally distributed backend engineering and software-in-test teams to identify and eliminate friction points in GitLab's development experience. The role splits between hands-on coding (Ruby and Go), designing scalable platform solutions, and providing technical leadership across teams. You'll be instrumental in transforming GitLab's testing approach, CI/CD pipelines, and development infrastructure to support the company's growth.
Key focus areas include: eliminating test pipeline flakiness, implementing comprehensive test coverage reporting, standardizing logging libraries and documentation, and providing stable, configurable development environments. You'll drive technical excellence by providing hands-on contributions and leadership, champion engineering needs by gathering feedback from teams across GitLab, and help modernize testing infrastructure at scale.
You'll collaborate with Platform, Product, and Infrastructure teams to break down systemic bottlenecks, optimize CI/CD workflows for fast feedback, and shape a culture of continuous learning and developer empowerment. This role requires deep experience with developer tooling, DevEx strategies, and testing frameworks at scale; proven ability to lead platform or transformation initiatives across multiple teams; strong influence without formal authority; and excellent communication skills in a remote-first environment. A product mindset and passion for empowering developers are essential.
