Staff Backend Engineer (Ruby), AI Engineering: DAP Repository Flows

About this role

<div class="content-intro"><p>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.</p> <p>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&nbsp;and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuZIb5zszQI">Co-create the future with us</a> as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.</p> <p>*<em>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.</em></p></div><h2>An overview of this role</h2> <p>The DAP Repository Flows team owns two areas within GitLab's Duo Agent Platform (DAP). The first is <strong>DAP onboarding</strong>, helping customers quickly set up a project so they can start using the Duo Agent Platform with minimal friction. The second is <strong>repository and background flows</strong>: autonomous and scheduled agents that work on a customer's codebase on their behalf.</p> <p>This work is central to how GitLab delivers AI-powered automation on repositories. As a Staff Software Engineer, you will set technical direction for the team, drive complex initiatives across team boundaries, and raise the engineering bar for how we build agentic experiences on top of the Duo Agent Platform.</p> <h2>What you'll do in this role</h2> <ul> <li>Set and drive the technical direction for the DAP Repository Flows team, making architecture decisions that shape how onboarding and repository/background flows are built.</li> <li>Lead the design and delivery of autonomous and scheduled agents that operate on customer codebases, building on top of the Duo Agent Platform.</li> <li>Design and refine the DAP onboarding experience so customers can get a project configured and productive quickly.</li> <li>Partner across teams in the broader DAP organization to align on interfaces, shared patterns, and platform capabilities.</li> <li>Mentor senior and intermediate engineers, review designs and code, and elevate the team's overall technical quality.</li> <li>Identify and resolve the hardest technical problems the team faces, and prevent them where possible through sound design.</li> <li>Contribute to a culture of autonomy, ownership, high context sharing, and async-first collaboration.</li> </ul> <h2>What we're looking for</h2> <ul> <li>Deep, hands-on experience with <strong>Ruby and Ruby on Rails</strong> in production systems.</li> <li>Demonstrated experience integrating <strong>LLMs into products</strong> (product integration, not ML model training).</li> <li>Experience building <strong>agentic systems</strong>: autonomous or semi-autonomous agents that take actions on a user's behalf.</li> <li>A track record of designing and shipping complex, high-scale systems and driving technical direction across teams.</li> <li>Strong written communication and the ability to operate effectively in a distributed, async-first environment.</li> <li>The judgment and influence expected of a staff-level engineer: setting direction, unblocking others, and multiplying the team's impact.</li> </ul> <h2>About the team</h2> <p>The DAP Repository Flows team is part of GitLab's broader Duo Agent Platform organization, within the AI/R&amp;D group. The team is small and distributed, with plans to grow. We value autonomy, ownership, and high context sharing, and we work async-first through GitLab issues and Slack.</p> <div class="c-message_actions__container c-message__actions">&nbsp;</div> <div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: white;">Remote-Global</span></span></div><div class="content-conclusion"><h4><strong>How GitLab Supports Full-Time Employees</strong></h4> <ul> <li><a href="https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/benefits/general-and-entity-benefits/">Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being</a></li> <li><a href="https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/time-off-and-absence/time-off-types/#flexible-paid-time-off-pto">Flexible Paid Time Off&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/inclusion/tmrg-tmag/">Team Member Resource Groups</a></li> <li><a href="https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/stock-options/">Equity Compensation &amp; Employee Stock Purchase Plan</a></li> <li><a href="https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/learning-and-development/growth-and-development/">Growth and Development Fund</a></li> <li><a href="https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/benefits/general-and-entity-benefits/#parental-leave">Parental Leave</a>&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>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 <a href="https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/inclusion/#examples-of-select-underrepresented-groups">underrepresented groups</a> are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you're excited about this role, please appl