Distinguished Engineer, Agentic SDLC & Non-Linear Productivity

Company: GitLab

About the Company: GitLab is the intelligent DevSecOps orchestration platform trusted by 50M+ users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100. Fully remote across 60+ countries.

Job Category: Engineering / AI Architecture / Technical Leadership

Contract Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Location: Remote — USA or Canada

Salary: $260,000–$345,000 base (US residents) + equity + benefits

Application Link: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/gitlab/jobs/8537853002

Posted: May 11, 2026 (marked "New" on Greenhouse)

Job Description: You'll pioneer and scale autonomous, agentic SDLC capabilities across GitLab—acting as the bridge between Architecture, Product, Infrastructure, and Data/ML teams. Distinguished Engineers at GitLab represent the most senior level of individual technical leadership in the company, and this role targets 10x step changes in engineering productivity, not incremental gains.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define a company-wide technical vision for autonomous, agentic SDLC aligned with product strategy
• Identify and prioritize non-linear productivity opportunities across the full software lifecycle — from planning through coding, review, security, compliance, and operations
• Lead hands-on experiments and prototypes validating agentic workflows (autonomous MR authoring, test creation/triage, security remediation, incident response)
• Design reference architectures for agentic SDLC including orchestration patterns, safety guardrails, observability, and human-in-the-loop controls
• Define evaluation frameworks using offline benchmarks and online experiments measuring correctness, latency, safety, cost, and productivity impact
• Drive internal pathfinder use cases from concept through adoption, then convert proven patterns into customer-facing product capabilities
• Mentor Principal and Staff Engineers working on AI and agentic efforts

Requirements:

• 10+ years software engineering experience, including 4+ years in a Staff, Principal, or equivalent senior technical leadership role
• Deep expertise in AI/ML systems including LLMs, agentic frameworks, and autonomous workflow design at production scale
• Proven track record leading hands-on technical experimentation and translating findings into scalable architecture
• Strong background in scalable multi-tenant distributed systems
• Experience designing human-in-the-loop controls, safety guardrails, and responsible AI practices for production
• Exceptional async written communication skills for a globally distributed remote team

Benefits: Flexible PTO, equity + Employee Stock Purchase Plan, Growth and Development Fund, parental leave, home office support, health/finance/wellness benefits.