Senior Distribution Engineer (Gitlab: Build)

GitLab; Ottawa; Remote; CAD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Generous Paid Time Off

Job summary

GitLab in Ottawa, Canada seeks a Senior Distribution Engineer to manage build pipelines and packaging for multiple Linux distros. You will maintain components, ensure licenses are up-to-date, and work with development teams on new features and packaging efforts.

The role involves building container images and providing self-service infrastructure for teams. You will collaborate with security and cloud teams, maintain docs, and help with partner validation and certification.

Qualifications

• Have used CI/CD systems including GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Travis CI.
• Have built .deb and .rpm packages for Debian- and RHEL-based systems.
• Communicate effectively in a remote, largely asynchronous environment.
• Write and maintain complex shell scripts in production.
• Build container images and use container build tooling in production.
• Use Linux build toolchains like autotools, make, CMake, and Nix.
• Experience with cloud providers is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Manage build pipelines and evaluate support needs for new services, platforms, and architectures.
• Maintain existing components, ensuring up-to-date and license-compliant offerings.
• Build and maintain packages for supported Linux distributions and architectures.
• Develop and maintain official GitLab container images and tooling.
• Provide guides and infrastructure to enable self-service integration of components.
• Collaborate with security teams to identify vulnerabilities and maintain secure dependencies.
• Manage cloud marketplace listings and cloud provider integrations.
• Maintain installation, update, and upgrade documentation and processes.
• Ensure license compliance across bundled dependencies.
• Submit components to partners for validation and certification.

Skills

English communication

Shell scripting

Remote work collaboration

Tools

GitLab CI/CD

Debian packaging

RPM packaging

Container build tooling

autotools

Make

CMake

Nix

Prometheus Grafana

Job description

Responsibilities

• As a Senior Distribution Engineer on the GitLab Build team, you’ll manage build pipelines, evaluate support needs for new services, platforms, and architectures, and maintain existing ones. You’ll keep the components that make up GitLab up to date and license-compliant, and make them available for users’ platforms and architectures
• You’ll work with development teams as they support new features and contribute to projects that include community packaging efforts
• Build and maintain packages for supported Linux distributions and architectures, including release activities
• Develop and maintain official GitLab container images and tooling that enables efficient component building
• Enable development teams to integrate their components into GitLab packages by providing guides and infrastructure that support self-service
• Collaborate with security teams to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and maintain secure, up-to-date dependencies
• Manage cloud marketplace listings and integrations with major cloud providers
• Maintain and test installation, update, and upgrade documentation and processes before release
• Ensure license compliance across bundled dependencies
• Submit components and packages to partners for validation and certification

Benefits

• We offer benefits to manage your health, wealth, and well-being regardless of location
• Flexibility in schedule to be there for life’s important moments
• Equity compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan offered
• Generous Paid Time Off

Requirements

• Have used continuous integration systems, including GitLab’s continuous integration feature, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Travis CI
• Have worked with Debian- and Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based systems to build .deb and .rpm packages and package cloud native applications
• Have communicated in written and spoken English in a remote, largely asynchronous work environment
• Have written and maintained complex shell scripts in production environments
• Have built container images and used container build tooling in production
• Have used Linux build toolchains such as autotools, make, CMake, and Nix
• Additional experience with Ruby, Go, Python, or Rust, or observability tools such as Prometheus and Grafana, would be helpful
• Have worked with major cloud providers such as Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, or Microsoft Azure

Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement