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An overview of this role
As a Backend Engineer on the GitLab Upgrades team, you’ll help self-managed customers run GitLab with assurance by building and supporting the deployment tooling, infrastructure, and automation behind how GitLab is installed, upgraded, and operated. You’ll work across Omnibus GitLab, GitLab Helm Charts, the GitLab Environment Toolkit (GET), and the GitLab Operator to improve reliability, security, and scalability in production-grade environments. This is a hands-on role where you’ll partner with Distribution Engineers, Site Reliability Engineers, Release Managers, Security, and Development teams to make self-managed GitLab easier to use across a wide range of platforms.
Some examples of our projects:
- Evolve Omnibus GitLab, Helm Charts, GET, and the GitLab Operator to support new GitLab features and architectures
- Improve installation, upgrade, and validation automation for large-scale self-managed GitLab deployments
What you’ll do
- Maintain and improve the Omnibus GitLab package so GitLab components work reliably in self-managed deployments.
- Develop and support GitLab Helm Charts for scalable, production-ready Kubernetes deployments.
- Enhance the GitLab Environment Toolkit (GET) and validated reference architectures used by enterprise and internal users.
- Support and extend the GitLab Operator for Kubernetes-native lifecycle management of GitLab installations.
- Improve the installation, upgrade, and day-to-day operating experience across supported self-managed platforms.
- Collaborate with Security to address vulnerabilities and strengthen secure defaults and configurations across the deployment stack.
- Build and maintain automation and continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines that validate deployment tooling across Omnibus, Charts, GET, and the Operator.
- Partner with Distribution Engineers, Site Reliability Engineers, Release Managers, and Development teams to integrate new features and keep user-facing documentation accurate and useful.
What you’ll bring
- Experience building and maintaining backend services in production environments, especially in deployment, infrastructure, or platform tooling.
- Practical knowledge of Kubernetes operations, including authoring and maintaining Helm charts.
- Proficiency with Ruby and Go, along with scripting skills to automate workflows and tooling.
- Familiarity with Terraform and infrastructure as code practices across cloud and on-premises environments.
- Hands-on experience with relational databases, especially PostgreSQL, including performance and reliability considerations.
- Understanding of secure, scalable, and supportable deployment practices, along with observability tools such as Prometheus and Grafana.
- Experience collaborating in large codebases and distributed teams, including writing clear user-facing documentation and implementation guides.
- Openness to learning new technologies and applying transferable skills across different parts of the GitLab deployment stack.
About the team
The Upgrades team is part of GitLab Delivery and delivers GitLab to self-managed users through supported, validated deployment tooling. The team maintains Omnibus GitLab, Helm Charts, the GitLab Operator, and the GitLab Environment Toolkit (GET) to help self-managed users deploy GitLab securely and reliably across diverse environments. You’ll join a distributed group of backend engineers that works asynchronously across time zones and collaborates closely with Site Reliability Engineering, Release, Security, and Development teams. The team is focused on improving installation and upgrade workflows, strengthening automation and security, and helping self-managed customers run GitLab successfully at any scale.
How GitLab Supports Full-Time Employees
- Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
- Flexible Paid Time Off
- Team Member Resource Groups
- Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Growth and Development Fund
- Parental Leave
- Home Office Support
Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. 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're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application.
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