Backend Engineer (Ruby), AI Engineering: Agent Observability

GitLab; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

GitLab is seeking a Backend Engineer for the Agent Observability team to shape AI-enabled delivery systems beyond code, collaborating with engineers across the AI space and GitLab’s R&D ecosystem.

You’ll help design and implement features across the monolith backend and AI gateway, with a focus on secure, scalable, and well-tested architecture within a high-visibility product area.

Qualifications

• Experience building production apps with Ruby on Rails, including work with background jobs, APIs, and data models.
• Familiarity with Python backends and/or Vue frontends a plus.
• Proficiency in designing or extending REST and/or GraphQL APIs with attention to scalability, maintainability, and backward compatibility.
• Strong practical experience working with AI tooling on a daily basis. Experience designing and shipping AI-powered backend features and integrations is a plus.
• SQL skills and familiarity with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, including writing efficient queries and understanding data modeling.

Responsibilities

• Develop, ship, and maintain features and improvements for Agent Observability and Interactions across both the GitLab monolith backend and the AI gateway in a secure, well-tested, and performant way.
• Collaborate with Product Management, UX, frontend, backend, and AI specialists to refine requirements and deliver high-quality, iterative product enhancements.
• Design, implement, and review GraphQL, REST APIs and related backend logic, ensuring reliability, scalability, and clear contracts with frontend clients.
• Improve and extend automated testing, including RSpec and other frameworks, to strengthen quality, reliability, and developer feedback loops.
• Share standards, patterns, and learnings with other engineers, raising the bar for responsible AI integration and evidence-driven engineering across the team.
• Participate in Tier 2 on-call rotations to troubleshoot production issues, contribute to root cause analysis, and enhance observability and resiliency.

Skills

Ruby on Rails

REST APIs

GraphQL

AI tooling

PostgreSQL

Async teamwork

Communication

Job description

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 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 role

As a Backend Engineer on the GitLab Agent Observability team, you'll go beyond using AI tools and help define how we design, build systems that allow AI agents to interact with the full software delivery lifecycle, way beyond pure code creation.
In this role you’ll contribute to the development of complex features and help establish architectural patterns both for how to interact with AI Agents across GitLab and how the resulting AI contributions manifest across GitLab. You’ll collaborate closely with engineers across the Agent Foundations stage and adjacent teams within AI engineering. This is a high-visibility area of the product at the intersection of GitLab's core platform and its AI strategy.

What you'll do

• Develop, ship, and maintain features and improvements for Agent Observability and Interactions across both the GitLab monolith backend and the AI gateway in a secure, well-tested, and performant way.
• Collaborate with Product Management, UX, frontend, backend, and AI specialists to refine requirements and deliver high-quality, iterative product enhancements.
• Design, implement, and review GraphQL, REST APIs and related backend logic, ensuring reliability, scalability, and clear contracts with frontend clients.
• Improve and extend automated testing, including RSpec and other frameworks, to strengthen quality, reliability, and developer feedback loops.
• Share standards, patterns, and learnings with other engineers, raising the bar for responsible AI integration and evidence-driven engineering across the team.
• Participate in Tier 2 on-call rotations to troubleshoot production issues, contribute to root cause analysis, and enhance observability and resiliency.

What you'll bring

• Experience building and maintaining production applications with Ruby on Rails, including work with background jobs, APIs, and data models.
• Comfortable working across the stack in a mature codebase. Familiarity with Python backends and/or Vue frontends a plus.
• Proficiency in designing or extending REST and/or GraphQL APIs with attention to scalability, maintainability, and backward compatibility.
• Strong practical experience working with AI tooling on a daily basis. Experience designing and shipping AI-powered backend features and integrations is a plus.
• SQL skills and familiarity with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, including writing efficient queries and understanding data modeling.
• Openness to learning, collaborating in an async-first, distributed team, and applying transferable skills from related technologies or domains.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including writing technical proposals and documentation, and collaborating effectively in a remote, asynchronous, cross-functional environment.

About the team

Agent Observability is a new functional team within the Agent Execution group. The team itself will initially consist of three engineers across AMER and EMEA timezones. The whole Agent Execution group consists of 8+ engineers. Beyond the Agent Observability team, Agent Execution consists of further teams focused on agent tools and executing agents on GitLab’s runners. We’re partnering with teams both within the AI space as well as all over GitLab to ensure that the Duo Agent Platform can become the backbone of many AI features at GitLab.

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

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.