Staff Software Engineer, Security Platform: Authentication

VulnU; Bengaluru; Remote; INR 3,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible PTO

Learning budget

Equity

16 weeks parental leave

Retirement match

Job summary

GitLab is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for the Security Platform's Authentication group. You will own the technical direction for OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and token exchange, across Rails monoliths and the new GATE platform.

You’ll write ADRs and drive multi-quarter designs while mentoring engineers. You’ll be hands-on in Ruby on Rails and Go, plan secure, scalable auth migrations, and ensure backward-compatible changes across GitLab.com, Self-Managed, and Dedicated deployments.

Qualifications

• Significant production authentication/identity experience at scale.
• Deep knowledge of OAuth 2.0 and OIDC, with PKCE and token handling.
• Experience with enterprise identity integrations (SAML, LDAP).
• Strong hands-on skills in Ruby on Rails or Go and careful migrations.

Responsibilities

• Define technical direction for authentication protocols across systems.
• Write architecture docs and ADRs, plan multi-quarter work in increments.
• Lead migrations without breaking existing customers; manage token formats and session behavior.
• Mentor engineers and review designs; participate in on-call when needed.

Skills

OAuth 2.0

OIDC

SAML

LDAP

Ruby on Rails

Go

JWTs

PKCE

Job description

# Staff Software Engineer, Security Platform: AuthenticationGitLab · gitlab.comCategory: Identity & Access ManagementLocation: Bangalore, IndiaLevel: Staff / Principal## Quality of lifeWhat the posting states. Hover or tap a perk to see the line it came from.* Flexible PTO* Learning budget* Equity* 16 weeks parental leave* Retirement matchGitLab 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 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.\\*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 roleAs a Staff Software Engineer on GitLab's Authentication team, you'll be the technical lead for how every user, application, token, and automated agent proves who it is on GitLab.com, Self-Managed, and Dedicated.We're an OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider for millions of users. We also accept identity from enterprise identity providers through Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Behind that sit more than ten token types and several session methods that grew inside the Ruby on Rails monolith. You'll help us move this work onto GATE, GitLab's new authentication and authorization platform. GATE exchanges external credentials for short-lived tokens at the edge through a Secure Token Service written in Go.You'll set our technical direction, lead the hardest protocol and migration work yourself, and help senior engineers own the rest.Our projects include:OAuth across Cells: Making OAuth clients, grants, and tokens work when users and organizations live in different cellsGlobal identities: One user identity that works across organizations and cellsToken consolidation: Reducing the number of token types and moving token issuance and validation out of the monolithIdentity for artificial intelligence (AI) agents and workloads: OAuth for Model Context Protocol (MCP) clients, workload identity federation, and service identities with narrow scopesWhat you'll doOwn the technical direction for authentication protocols at GitLab, including OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and token exchange, across the Rails monolith and GATE services.Write and drive design documents and architecture decision records (ADRs) for multi-quarter work, then break that work into increments that ship behind feature flags.Lead migrations that must not break existing customers: token formats, client and grant state, and session behavior on GitLab.com, Self-Managed, and Dedicated.Be hands-on in the most complex parts of the code, in Ruby on Rails and Go, and review the designs and merge requests of other engineers.Agree interface contracts with the GATE Core, GATE Infra, Authorization, and Tenant Scale (Cells and Organizations) teams, and keep them current as the architecture changes.Treat authentication as a security and availability boundary: threat-model new flows, add rate limits and abuse controls, and lead the technical response to authentication incidents.Mentor senior and intermediate engineers on the team and raise the protocol and security knowledge of the whole group.Work asynchronously with engineers in India, Europe, and the Americas, with most decisions made in writing.Take part in on-call or operational support where your team’s ownership model requires it.What you'll bringSignificant experience building and running production authentication or identity systems at scale, with technical leadership across teams that moves unclear problems to written decisions and shipped code.Deep, hands-on knowledge of OAuth 2.0 and OIDC: authorization code with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE), refresh token rotation, token exchange, client registration, scopes, and JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) with signing keys and key rotation.Working knowledge of SAML 2.0 single sign-on and enterprise identity integration (LDAP, System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM), or similar).Strong production experience in Ruby on Rails or Go, willingness to work in both, and experience with careful refactors, feature-flagged rollouts, and backward-compatible migrations in large, long-lived codebases.A security mindset. You think about token theft, replay, revocation, and blast radius before you think about elegance.Experience with multi-tenant software as a service (SaaS) systems, including data isolation and performance under high request volume.Clear, concise written English and comfort working in an all-remote, asynchronous company.Optional experience: authentication libraries (Doorkeeper, Devise, or OmniAuth), passkeys or multi-factor authentication, workload identity, gateways or policy engines, AI agent authentication, or multi-region architectures. Contributions to identity standards or open source identity projects are also welcome.About the teamThe Authentication group is part of the Security Platform stage, alongside Authorization, GATE Core, GATE Infra, Secrets Manager, and other security teams. We own sign-in, single sign-on, OAuth, and personal and service tokens. Our work touches every GitLab customer, and much of it is on the critical path for Cells and for GitLab's AI agent platform.How GitLab Supports Full-Time EmployeesBenefits to support your health, finances, and well-beingFlexible Paid Time OffTeam Member Resource GroupsEquity Compensation Employee Stock Purchase PlanGrowth and Development FundParental LeavePlease 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.Country Hiring Guidelines: GitLab hires new team members in countries around the world. All of our roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process.Privacy Policy: Please review our Recruitment Privacy Policy. Your privacy is important to us.GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. GitLab’s policies and practices relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression), national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information (including family medical history), discharge status from the military, protected veteran status (which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans), or any other basis protected by law. GitLab will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. See also GitLab’s EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.