Staff Backend Engineer, Developer Experience (Ruby)

GitLab; Canada; Remote; CAD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software development company is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer in the Developer Experience group. This position involves enhancing the engineering experience and improving testing frameworks for efficient code delivery. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in developer tooling and strong leadership abilities in a collaborative environment. This role offers the opportunity to work remotely in various regions, including Canada.

Qualifications

• Deep experience with developer tooling, DevEx strategies, and testing frameworks.
• Experience leading platform or transformation initiatives.
• Ability to influence without authority and collaborate effectively.

Responsibilities

• Drive technical excellence across teams with hands-on contributions.
• Identify and address engineering needs for improvement.
• Modernize testing frameworks to support growth.
• Optimize CI/CD pipelines for fast feedback.
• Collaborate to eliminate architectural bottlenecks.
• Foster a continuous learning culture.

Skills

Developer tooling

DevEx strategies

Testing frameworks

DevOps workflows

CI/CD pipelines

Communication skills

Job description

Staff Backend Engineer, Developer Experience (Ruby)

Remote, APAC; Remote, Canada; Remote, EMEA; Remote, Netherlands; Remote, United Kingdom

GitLab is an open-core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations. Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating human progress. Our platform unites teams and organizations, breaking down barriers and redefining what's possible in software development. Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise and Duo Agent Platform, customers get AI benefits at every stage of the SDLC.

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 values and 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.

Overview

As a Staff Backend Engineer in the Developer Experience group, you’ll work cross-functionally to help us identify and improve the engineering experience across GitLab’s internal engineering teams. We’re at a pivotal time in transforming our testing approach and development experience to enable engineers to deliver high-quality code efficiently and with confidence.

Developer Experience currently has six, globally distributed teams of Backend Engineers and Software Engineers in Test. This role will work across the entire group to help us identify and remove the biggest points of friction that affect development at GitLab. Expect to split your time between hands-on coding in Ruby and Go, designing scalable solutions and helping every team deliver. You’ll be instrumental in shaping our engineering culture across GitLab.

This is a highly visible role with strong company-wide support. You’ll be instrumental in shifting our culture and practices toward a cohesive Developer Experience Platform strategy—backed by buy-in and appetite for change.

Some examples of our projects

• Identifying and removing the source of flakiness in our tests pipelines
• Introducing comprehensive test coverage reporting to guide our decisions about what and when to test
• Standardizing logging libraries and documentation to make it easy for all features and components to provide consistent logs

What You’ll Do

• Drive Technical Excellence Across Teams: Provide hands-on engineering contributions and technical leadership across six Developer Experience teams, jumping in to unblock critical work or accelerate high-impact initiatives
• Champion Engineering Needs: Partner with engineering teams across GitLab to identify pain points, gather feedback, and translate day-to-day frustrations into actionable improvements for the Developer Experience roadmap
• Transform Testing at Scale: Help us modernize our testing to support GitLab's growth—ensuring engineers have fast, reliable tools that catch issues early without slowing them down
• Optimize CI/CD Pipelines: Reduce merge and CI friction by building workflows that deliver fast, actionable feedback—helping engineers iterate confidently and ship faster
• Break Down Systemic Bottlenecks: Collaborate with Platform, Product, and Infrastructure teams to identify and eliminate the architectural and process friction that slows down development
• Shape Engineering Culture: Foster a culture of continuous learning, inclusion, and improvement—where great developer experience is a shared value across the organization

What You’ll Bring

• Deep experience with developer tooling, DevEx strategies, and testing frameworks at scale
• Experience leading platform or transformation initiatives across multiple teams
• Proven ability to influence without authority and collaborate across functions
• Familiarity with DevOps workflows and CI/CD pipelines
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in a remote-first environment
• A product mindset with a passion for empowering developers
• Alignment with GitLab values, especially collaboration, iteration, and transparency

Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. We encourage you to apply so recruiters can assess your application.

EEO Statement: GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to diversity and inclusion and evaluate candidates on merit regardless of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, or other protected characteristics. If you require accommodations during the hiring process, please let us know.

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