Backend Engineer, GitLab Orbit

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As an Intermediate Backend Engineer on the GitLab Orbit team, you'll help build and operate a graph data service that supports GitLab Duo agents, analytics, and architecture-level features across GitLab.com, Dedicated, and Self-Managed deployments. You'll join a Rust-first team that values clear ownership, thoughtful system design, and rigorous thinking about data and reliability.

The Knowledge Graph service is a Rust backend that builds a property graph from GitLab’s software development lifecycle (SDLC) and code data. It uses ClickHouse, NATS JetStream, and the Data Insights Platform. It exposes secure graph queries and MCP tools used by AI agents and product features. In this role, you’ll deliver features and improvements in well-scoped areas, learn the broader architecture, and contribute to reliability, observability, and operational readiness.

In your first year, you’ll take clear ownership of specific components or features (for example, parts of the SDLC indexing pipeline or query paths). You’ll help reduce single points of failure with better tests and runbooks, and you’ll help the team ship analytical services that are easier to maintain and evolve over time.

What you’ll do

• Implement and iterate on backend features in the Rust-based Knowledge Graph service, including changes to the query engine, SDLC and code indexing flows, and API endpoints (including MCP endpoints) under guidance from senior and staff engineers.
• Maintain integrations between Knowledge Graph and the rest of the GitLab platform, working in areas that touch GitLab Rails, the Data Insights Platform (Siphon, NATS, ClickHouse), and GitLab Duo Agent Platform.
• Contribute to system design discussions by proposing options, raising questions, and documenting decisions, with a focus on reliability, scalability, and maintainability for analytical graph workloads.
• Improve the operational maturity of the service by adding or enhancing metrics, logging, runbooks, alerts, and small readiness tasks, and by participating in on-call rotation as appropriate for your level and experience.
• Collaborate asynchronously with product, data, infrastructure, security, and AI counterparts to clarify requirements, align on scope, and ship features safely for customers and sustainably for the team.
• Use AI-assisted development workflows responsibly (for example, using Knowledge Graph-backed agents and internal Duo tooling), and share what works with the team while keeping a strong focus on code quality and correctness.
• Participate in code reviews, knowledge-sharing sessions, and pairing to both learn from others and help maintain consistent standards across the codebase.
• Contribute across the stack when needed, including occasional Ruby work for Rails integration and authorization paths, or small frontend changes related to Knowledge Graph features (for example, Software Architecture Map UI plumbing).
• Take part in on-call or operational support where your team’s ownership model requires it.

What you’ll bring

• Professional experience building and maintaining backend systems in production, with an understanding of reliability, maintainability, and how to support services over time (for example, incident response and follow-ups).
• Proficiency in at least one modern backend language and strong interest in Rust, with either prior Rust experience or clear evidence you can ramp quickly and deliver in a Rust-first, performance-sensitive codebase.
• Some exposure to distributed data or analytics systems (for example, OLAP databases, Kafka- or NATS-style messaging, or change data capture (CDC) pipelines), or strong motivation to develop those skills in this role.
• Interest in graph data modeling and query patterns (property graphs, multi-step (n-hop) traversals, aggregations), and willingness to learn the tools and concepts used in Knowledge Graph over time.
• Practical experience (or strong interest) using AI tools in day-to-day development, along with a thoughtful approach to validating outputs and integrating AI into your workflow.
• A language-agnostic mindset and evidence that you can pick up new languages and frameworks as needed (for example, Ruby, Go, or TypeScript/Vue where the work touches adjacent systems).
• Solid fundamentals in system design for your level, including the ability to reason about trade-offs, ask good questions, and align your implementation work with documented architectural decisions.
• Comfort working in a low-process, high-ownership environment where you take responsibility for your work, refine problem statements with teammates, and communicate progress clearly in writing across time zones in an all-remote team.

About the team

GitLab Orbit sits within the Data Engineering organization. We work closely with partners across AI (Duo Agent Platform), analytics, infrastructure and delivery, and security because our work spans many parts of the platform.

We collaborate asynchronously rather than following a feature factory model. A key challenge for us right now is scaling sustainably as usage grows and team members take time off. That includes hardening multi-tenant behavior. At the same time, we're bringing Knowledge Graph to

The base salary range for this role’s listed level is currently for residents of the United States only. This range is intended to reflect the role's base salary rate in locations throughout the US. Grade level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, equity with other team members, alignment with market data, and geographic location. The base salary range does not include any bonuses, equity, or benefits. See more information on our benefits and equity. Sales roles are also eligible for incentive pay targeted at up to 100% of the offered base salary.

United States Salary Range

$115,200—$162,000 USD

How GitLab Supports Full-Time Employees

• 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

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.

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