Who you are

• Significant experience in engineering management with focus on infrastructure and distributed systems
• Deep expertise in proxy technologies (Envoy, Traefik, HAProxy, nginx) and edge routing
• Experience with DB technologies and storage, such as RDS, Google Spanner, Postgres or similar
• Strong background in Go and/or Rust for building high-performance infrastructure services
• Experience with service mesh architectures, mTLS, and zero-trust networking
• Expertise in gRPC, REST APIs, and service-to-service communication patterns
• Understanding of token systems (JWT, Macaroons), cryptographic signing, and key management
• Knowledge of Kubernetes, container orchestration, and cloud-native deployment patterns
• Proven track record of building and scaling engineering teams focused on infrastructure
• Experience with infrastructure automation, CI/CD, and GitOps practices
• Strong debugging and performance optimization skills for distributed systems

What the job involves

• As an Engineering Manager for the Auth Infrastructure team at GitLab, you'll lead a talented group of engineers building the critical infrastructure layer that powers GitLab's authentication and authorization systems at scale. This role focuses on the foundational components that enable secure, performant, and reliable identity services across all GitLab deployment models while supporting our transition to a zero-trust architecture
• At GitLab, we see our team as our product. While you'll need deep technical expertise in distributed systems, proxy technologies, and infrastructure security, your primary focus will be on nurturing your team's health, hiring exceptional talent, and positioning them for success
• You'll collaborate closely with the Authentication and Authorization teams to ensure the infrastructure layer can support their requirements, while working with Platform and Infrastructure teams to ensure seamless integration across GitLab's architecture
• Your leadership will be instrumental in building the infrastructure foundation for GitLab's Identity and Access Management (IAM) Services
• This is a unique opportunity to solve authentication infrastructure challenges at global scale while enabling GitLab's evolution toward microservices and zero-trust security
• Lead the design and implementation of GitLab's authentication infrastructure layer, including Envoy proxy configuration, token services, and policy decision infrastructure
• Solve critical infrastructure challenges including bi-directional gRPC tunnels, mTLS implementation, short-lived certificate management and service mesh architecture
• Ensure infrastructure supports multiple deployment models: GitLab.com (millions of users), self-managed, Dedicated, and air-gapped environments
• Lead performance optimization efforts for authentication decisions at scale
• Implement infrastructure monitoring, observability, and debugging capabilities for distributed authentication systems
• The Auth Infrastructure team is one of three authentication-focused teams within GitLab's Software Supply Chain Security stage, specifically created to provide the infrastructure foundation for GitLab's authentication transformation
• Your team will tackle some of the most challenging infrastructure problems in distributed systems: building a proxy layer that handles millions of requests per second, implementing zero-downtime migrations of authentication infrastructure, designing resilient token services, and creating the foundation for policy-based authorization at scale
• The team works at the intersection of security and infrastructure, collaborating closely with:
• Authentication & Authorization teams for requirements and integration
• Platform/Infrastructure teams for deployment and operations
• Cells Architecture team for multi-tenant routing and isolation
• Runner team for CI/CD authentication infrastructure

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