Staff Backend Engineer, AST: Composition Analysis

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.

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.

• 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.
  
  

An Overview Of This Role

As a Staff Engineer on GitLab's Software Composition Analysis team, you'll drive hands-on implementation of security features that help customers understand and manage risks in their software supply chain. Your focus will be on enhancing GitLab's SCA capabilities in dependency scanning and container scanning. You'll work directly on technical implementation and help the team push forward on three core goals: Gather (introducing data points that help customers understand the urgency of issues, like reachability analysis and supply chain poisoning detection), Integrate (providing other teams with innovative collection techniques for better workflows), and Optimize (solving data correlation at massive scale). You'll contribute hands-on code, help solve novel technical challenges, and establish patterns that improve how the distributed team works together across multiple time zones.

What You’ll Do

• Implement complex features in dependency scanning and container scanning, shipping improvements that increase scan coverage, improve accuracy, and drive adoption of GitLab's SCA capabilities
• Solve novel technical problems in SCA, establishing reusable patterns that reduce delivery time and improve engineering effectiveness across the team
• Guide architectural and implementation decisions in collaboration with engineering managers, product managers, and peer staff engineers to improve scalability, reliability, and delivery outcomes across the team's SCA architecture
• Contribute code, design reviews, and technical mentorship that raise quality standards, improve maintainability, and strengthen performance across the codebase
• Collaborate across GitLab's security domain to align SCA work with related efforts in vulnerability management and adjacent product areas, accelerating delivery of shared roadmap goals and improving coordination across related security efforts
• Identify and resolve technical debt, prioritizing changes that improve team velocity, code health, and long-term maintainability across the team's core SCA services
• Translate product needs and customer feedback into technical solutions in partnership with product and security stakeholders, delivering features that address high-impact customer risks and advance shared roadmap goals
  
  

What You’ll Bring

• Hands-on experience in Software Composition Analysis and the ability to contribute to complex security features in dependency scanning and container scanning
• Deep hands-on expertise in building and evolving dependency scanning and container scanning capabilities
• Demonstrated ability to design solutions that balance complexity, performance, and maintainability
• Expertise with backend technologies, particularly Go and/or Ruby on Rails, with ability to pick up new technologies quickly
• Ability to evaluate technical tradeoffs in SCA and security tooling, with proven success delivering maintainable solutions that help customers manage software supply chain risk
• Ability to work effectively in distributed, async-first teams across multiple time zones
• Experience explaining complex technical and security concepts to engineers and stakeholders
  
  

About The Team

The Software Composition Analysis team is part of GitLab's Sec Engineering group, and we focus on building capabilities that help customers identify and manage risks in their software supply chain. We work across areas including dependency scanning and container scanning, and we work closely with product, security, and adjacent engineering teams to close important feature gaps in GitLab's platform. Our team members are distributed across regions including Europe and North America, so we rely on clear documentation, asynchronous communication, and thoughtful coordination across time zones. This opportunity is centered on helping us deliver complex security features while balancing hands-on technical progress with strong team execution.

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

$131,600—$282,000 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
• 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.