Backend Engineer, Source Code: Repository Services (Ruby)
Job description
Backend Engineer on GitLab's Repository Services team in the Create stage, building the access layer over Gitaly primitives that controls how code enters repositories, who may change it, and how changes are verified. The role focuses on reliability, performance, and support in one of GitLab's oldest and most complex product areas.
At a glance
- Employment
- Full-time · Employee (employment agreement)
- Work mode
- Remote · United States
- Languages
- English – fluent
- Pay
- USD 115,200 – 194,400 / year
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.
What we're looking for
- 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.
Your team
Repository Services (Create stage)
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), and 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.
Benefits
- Flexible Paid Time Off
- Team Member Resource Groups
- Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Growth and Development Fund
- Parental Leave
Apply
Direct apply at GitLab
Opens the job posting at GitLab
About GitLab
The intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps
GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100 trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster.
Key facts
- DevSecOps software
- More than 50 million registered users
- More than 50% of the Fortune 100 trust GitLab
- All team members are expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows
- All roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements