Principal Engineer, Infrastructure Platforms

About This RoleAI processing…

Key Responsibilities

• 1
  Core Focus: Lead the design and evolution of projects that enable our distributed, multi-tenant SaaS transformation, including Cells, Organizations, and OrgMover.
• 2
  Distributed Architecture: Architect for zero downtime, transparent relocation, and application hardening in a massive distributed environment.
• 3
  Strategic Decisions: Guide architecture decisions with availability, reliability, resiliency, performance, and cost in mind.
• 4
  Own and drive the architectural direction for critical infrastructure platforms that support GitLab at global scale.
• 5
  Lead the design and evolution of large platforms and distributed systems that are scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-efficient.
• 6
  Serve as the technical authority on complex initiatives, guiding decisions that impact multiple teams and product areas.
• 7
  Translate business and product strategy into long-term technical roadmaps and execution plans.
• 8
  Drive alignment across engineering, product, and leadership by clearly communicating tradeoffs and recommendations.
• 9
  Establish technical standards and architectural patterns that raise quality and consistency across the organization.
• 10
  Be accountable for production outcomes, including reliability, performance, and operational excellence.
• 11
  Mentor senior engineers and act as a force multiplier through influence rather than direct authority.
• 12
  Operate effectively in ambiguous problem spaces where both the problem and the solution need to be defined.
• 13
  Proven experience designing and evolving large-scale platforms or distributed systems in cloud-native environments.
• 14
  Strong proficiency in Golang and/or Ruby, with the ability to contribute to, review, and guide core architectural changes in production codebases.
• 15
  Strong architectural judgment, including the ability to balance scalability, reliability, performance, security, and cost.
• 16
  Experience owning platform-level technical decisions that impacted multiple teams or an entire engineering domain.
• 17
  Solid understanding of Kubernetes-based environments as a production platform, including how they influence system design, deployment models, reliability, and operational complexity.
• 18
  Experience being accountable for production systems, not just design recommendations.
• 19
  Ability to author and drive long-term technical strategy and multi-month roadmaps.
• 20
  Track record of leading through influence and shaping technical direction without direct authority.
• 21
  Comfort making high-impact technical decisions, including build vs buy vs partner tradeoffs.
• 22
  Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to engineers, leadership, and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

• Strong proficiency in Golang and/or Ruby, with the ability to contribute to, review, and guide core architectural changes in production codebases.
• Track record of leading through influence and shaping technical direction without direct authority.
• An overview of this role GitLab is seeking a Principal Engineer to set technical direction for our most critical infrastructure platforms.
• Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification.
• If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation , please let us know during the recruiting process .

Perks & Benefits