Senior Distribution Engineer, Gitlab: Build New Remote, Canada

GitLab Inc.; Canada; Hybrid; CAD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

GitLab Inc. is seeking a Senior Distribution Engineer for the Build team. This remote Canada-based role focuses on managing build pipelines, packaging for Linux distributions, and maintaining container images and tooling to support component building.

You will collaborate with development teams, ensure secure dependencies, and help with documentation, licenses, and partner validations. The role emphasizes scalable, automated packaging workflows across platforms.

Qualifications

• Experience building Linux packages (.deb/.rpm) for Debian/Red Hat based systems.
• Proficiency with Linux build toolchains (autotools, make, CMake, Nix) and container tooling.
• Experience with CI systems (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Travis CI) in production.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

Linux build toolchains

Container images

Debian/Red Hat packaging

CI systems

Shell scripting

English communication

Cloud platforms

Ruby/Go/Python/Rust

Tools

GitLab CI

Job description

Senior Distribution Engineer, Gitlab: Build

Remote, Canada

GitLab is 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.

The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our valuesand continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.

*Fortune 500® is a registered trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, used under license. Claim based on GitLab data. Fortune 100 refers to the top 20% ranked companies in the 2025 Fortune 500 list, published in June 2025. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of GitLab.

An overview of this role

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.

What you’ll do

• 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.

What you’ll bring

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

About the team

We produce system packages, container images, related components such as marketplace listings, and the tooling that creates and maintains them. We bridge development teams and end users by providing tooling and expertise that enable efficient component building and deliver simple, secure, dependable installation experiences. We also review a large number of merge requests from outside our team, including dependency and security updates for bundled components such as PostgreSQL, Consul, and Patroni.

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.

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