Intermediate Backend Engineer - Database Change Management

About GitLab

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps, trusted by over 50 million users and more than half of Fortune 100 companies to ship better software faster. We embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier in an all-remote, asynchronous environment where every voice matters.

Role Overview

You will own the GitLab database upgrade experience, building systems that make upgrades safe, fast, and predictable for both SaaS and self-managed customers. Working with Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL in a highly collaborative remote setting, you'll design features that apply schema changes safely and catch issues before they impact production.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and test systems to safely apply database schema changes during upgrades for all GitLab customers.
• Develop robust testing frameworks validating schema changes pre-production deployment.
• Implement safeguards that detect problems early, preventing failed or slow upgrade cycles.
• Review and improve migrations from internal teams and external contributors ensuring consistency and backward compatibility.
• Cross-functionally collaborate with operations, packaging, distribution, QA, and database architecture teams to ensure a seamless customer experience.
• Document procedures, schema patterns, and migration best practices for the engineering team.