Senior Backend Engineer

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.

An overview of this role:

Help us build the future of secure and easy to manage access at GitLab. Whether it's a simple user and password based login, enhancing our access token strategy or driving consolidation of authorization checks that manage access to thousands of resources, as a Senior Backend Engineer on our team, you'll play a key role in the implementation of various authentication strategies and improving access management for our users. 

Your role will also involve building new authentication mechanisms from ground up such as support for Passkeys and passwordless authentication while helping keep GitLab and its customers secure by robust access management tooling and addressing vulnerabilities on existing features reported via our HackerOne program.

Authentication group works across many core components that are used by not only external users but also by the rest of the GitLab teams, allowing you to make a direct impact on the GitLab product.

Some of our example projects:

• Enterprise user management and controls
• Secure automation improvements via Service accounts
• Transparent credential management through Credentials Inventory
• Composite Identities to merge machine and human authorization for AI
• Token management tooling
• SAML, LDAP, OIDC and SCIM enhancements for automated user provisioning and SSO.

What you'll do:  

• Contribute to the overall direction of the team and play a direct part in driving future roadmap direction of a secure and scalable authentication solution for GitLab.
• Contribute to implementation and expanding of various authentication strategies into our product.
• Bolster security posture of our users and organizations by helping develop fine grained access control and frictionless user management.
• Solve technical problems of high scope and complexity.
• Help to define and improve our internal standards for style, maintainability, and best practices for a high-scale web environment. Maintain and advocate for these standards through code review.
• Represent GitLab and its values in public communication around broader initiatives, specific projects, and community contributions.
• Confidently ship moderately sized features and improvements with moderate guidance and support from other team members.
• Collaborate with the team on larger projects.
• Improve the engineering projects at GitLab via the maintainer trainee program at your own comfortable pace, while striving to become a project maintainer.

What you'll bring:

• Considerable professional experience with Golang.
• Experience in a scaling or mission critical SaaS product.
• Familiarity with authentication and authorization technologies or techniques such as SAML, SSO, SCIM, LDAP, RBAC or IAM.
• Proficiency in the English language, both written and verbal, sufficient for success in a remote and largely asynchronous work environment.
• Demonstrated capacity to clearly and concisely communicate complex problems and solutions
• Experience with performance and optimization problems and a demonstrated ability to both diagnose and prevent these problems.
• Comfort working in a highly agile, intensely iterative software development process.
• Positive and solution-oriented mindset.
• Experience owning a project from concept to production, including proposal, discussion, and execution.
• Self-motivated and self-managing, with strong organizational skills.

About the team:

The SSCS:Authentication team's  mission is to empower GitLab system administrators with the toolkit they need to create their desired balance of security and accessibility for their GitLab experience. 

Authentication is the first impression any new customer has when they configure their shiny new GitLab instance, and we aim to make it as seamless as possible: from that moment of first logging in, to onboarding users, to managing the basic security rules for their instance in a secure, flexible and scalable manner.

• 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 
• Home office support

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.

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.  

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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.