Backend Engineer, Create: Source Code Experience (Ruby) - GitLab

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps, enabling organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and over 50% of the Fortune 100 trust GitLab to ship secure software faster.

Overview of the Role

We are looking for a Backend Engineer to join our Source Code Experience team within GitLab's Create stage. You will help make everyday source code workflows clear, reliable, and efficient across GitLab projects. As AI agents increasingly write and manage code alongside people, you will build backend capabilities and interfaces that support trustworthy human-agent collaboration.

You will work in one of GitLab's core product areas, using Ruby and GraphQL to enhance critical source code experiences across GitLab.com, self-managed instances, and GitLab Dedicated. Alongside experienced team members, you will help maintain high reliability through query tuning, caching, rate limiting, testing, observability, and resiliency.

What You'll Do

• Develop secure, well-tested, performant features and improvements using Ruby and GraphQL.
• Work through complex requirements and legacy constraints to deliver clear solutions while protecting system reliability.
• Design and maintain backend services, APIs, data models, and business logic supporting intuitive source code workflows.
• Collaborate across functions and teams asynchronously and synchronously, involving domain experts as needed.
• Leverage AI coding agents for well-scoped tasks to accelerate delivery while critically reviewing their output.
• Write maintainable code following GitLab standards and contribute constructive code reviews.
• Strengthen reliability by monitoring production health metrics, participating in Tier 2 on-call rotations, troubleshooting incidents, and contributing to root cause analyses.
• Share knowledge through code review, technical documentation, and collaborative learning.

What You'll Bring

• Professional experience building backend web applications, services, or APIs, with proficiency in Ruby and GraphQL.
• Strong understanding of relational databases, SQL, data modeling, caching, background processing, and backend performance optimization.
• Experience contributing to user-facing workflows and maintaining underlying production systems.
• Experience writing backend unit and integration tests, with familiarity with the testing pyramid, Git, and collaborative code review processes.
• Experience with or interest in utilizing AI coding agents and critically reviewing their generated output within a complex monorepo.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills, especially in an asynchronous, remote-first environment.
• Ability to manage priorities, navigate ambiguity, take ownership, and proactively seek guidance when required.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health, financial, and well-being coverage
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Equity compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental leave
• Team Member Resource Groups