Senior Backend Engineer, GitLab
RoR, AST: Secret Detection
$117.6-252k
Salary benchmarked on USD rates and may differ on location + Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
One DevOps platform
Open for applications
One DevOps platform
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$117.6-252k
Salary benchmarked on USD rates and may differ on location + Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
1001+ employees
Company mission
To make it so that everyone can contribute. When everyone can contribute, users become contributors and we greatly increase the rate of innovation.
Role
Who you are
- Experience building backend applications and services using Ruby on Rails, with working knowledge of GraphQL and interest in backend-focused product development
- Experience designing and delivering secure, maintainable systems that power production web applications at scale
- Knowledge of security concepts, common vulnerabilities, mitigation techniques, and secure coding practices
- Background developing or working with security tools or products, especially in areas related to code scanning or secret detection
- Experience investigating performance issues and improving backend reliability, efficiency, and maintainability
- Ability to work closely with cross-functional partners, including product, design, and technical writing, to deliver useful product outcomes
- Communicate clearly in writing and in conversation, especially in remote, async-first environments with distributed teams
- Bring transferable experience and a willingness to grow into parts of the security or Go stack
- 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. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application
What the job involves
- As a Backend Engineer on the Secret Detection team, you'll help protect sensitive data by building the services, scanning workflows, and remediation paths that prevent leaked secrets from reaching production
- Your work will contribute to the full secret management lifecycle, from push protection to pipeline-based scanning, validation, and auditability, so developers can move quickly without taking on avoidable security risk
- This is a strong opportunity if you want to work on security features with clear customer impact, improve detection quality, and help teams act when credentials, API keys, or other secrets are exposed
- You'll focus on backend systems that power Secret Detection across GitLab's DevSecOps platform, working closely with product management and engineering peers in an async-first environment
- In your first year, you'll contribute to core product capabilities, improve performance and result quality, and help shape technical direction through code reviews, RFCs, and proof of concepts
- Guide the design and implementation of backend features for GitLab Secret Detection in Ruby on Rails, GraphQL, and Go, delivering capabilities that improve coverage, reliability, or response time for secret detection workflows
- Build clean, well-tested, maintainable code that meets GitLab standards for reliability and performance, helping reduce regressions and maintain backend systems at scale
- Partner with product management and engineering peers to deliver backend capabilities that improve detection, validation, remediation, and audit trail coverage across the secret management lifecycle
- Improve detection quality by reducing false positives, strengthening secret validation workflows, and enabling faster, more effective remediation paths
- Contribute to code reviews, RFCs, and proof-of-concept work that guide technical approaches across the Secret Detection category
- Identify technical debt and operational inefficiencies, then propose and implement practical improvements
- Diagnose performance and optimization issues in backend systems and implement improvements that increase efficiency, scalability, and service reliability
- Work effectively in a globally distributed, async-first team while participating in planning, engineering discussions, and pairing when needed
Our take
GitLab is an open-source collaboration platform for developers. It enables teams to build code quickly from anywhere without compromising on security or quality. GitLab already has an estimated 30M+ users from all over the world.
According to a 2021 GitLab report, 60% of developers can release code 2x faster with DevOps platforms that bring teams together and accelerate processes. It stands out by catering to programmers of all experiences. Gitlab's version control system helps streamline the process of creating, maintaining, and deploying code, whoever you are.
GitLab was in the right place to capitalise on the recent trend toward rapid digital transformation and remote working. This trend is expected to grow, and with it, GitLab's popularity. With its successful 2021 IPO and the patronage of major brands such as Nasdaq and Jaguar Land Rover, GitLab is expected to solidify its position as the go-to platform for development teams.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
15% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Sep 2019
$268m
SERIES E
Dec 2018
$20m
SERIES D
Total funding: $435.1m
Company benefits
- We offer benefits to manage your health, wealth, and well-being regardless of location
- Flexibility in schedule to be there for life’s important moments
- Equity compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan offered
- Generous Paid Time Off
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Sid Sijbrandij
(CEO)Studied Physics at the University of Twente. Interned at P&G and IBM. Was Lead Architect at the Netherlands' Ministry of Justice from 2009 to 2012. Founded app store Comcoaster in 2008, and then co-founded GitLab in 2012.
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