Staff Forward Deployed Engineer

GitLab

Staff Forward Deployed Engineer optimizing customer outcomes and GitLab's product development while engaging with strategic customers. Collaborating across teams to resolve complex challenges in the deployment of GitLab software.

Posted 7/16/2026full-timeRemote • 🇺🇸 United StatesLeadWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in building and improving complex production software systems, with a strong focus on Ruby on Rails or Go, AI-assisted development, and modern DevSecOps workflows. Capable of creating technical narratives and collaborating across teams to drive product improvements and customer adoption.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Ruby On RailsGo ProgrammingAI-Assisted Software DevelopmentDevSecOps WorkflowsComplex System Diagnosis

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Production Software SystemsTesting StandardsMaintainabilityPerformance OptimizationSecurity ControlsCI/CD WorkflowsAPI UsageObservabilityData AnalysisWorkflow Design

Soft Skills

Strong Written CommunicationSound JudgmentCollaboration Across Teams

Tools & Technologies

GitGitLabAI GovernanceAgentic WorkflowsCustomer Technical Engagement

Industry Keywords

Enterprise Software DeliveryTechnical NarrativesCustomer Adoption PatternsCompliance NeedsStrategic Customer Engagement

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudGoRubyRuby on RailsSDLC

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Contribute production-quality code to GitLab’s product and adjacent systems.
Develop bug fixes, features, integrations, tooling, and performance improvements when strategic customer outcomes require direct engineering work.
Work within GitLab’s product and engineering processes, including issue discovery, merge request creation, testing, review, documentation, and maintainability.
Partner with Product and Engineering so customer-driven solutions support long-term product direction rather than becoming one-off customizations.
Turn blockers discovered in the field into durable product improvements, reference architectures, documentation, and repeatable implementation patterns.
Engage with strategically important customers when adoption, retention, executive confidence, or public trust is materially at risk.
Diagnose complex problems across GitLab product behavior, customer architecture, Git internals, CI/CD workflows, API usage, observability, infrastructure, networking, and cloud environments.
Coordinate across Product, Engineering, SRE, Support, SA, CSA, CSM, Professional Services, and customer technical teams to drive resolution from discovery through handoff.
Provide recommendations grounded in data, traces, and systems analysis to improve GitLab usage, workflows, automation, and architecture.
Create durable outcomes without establishing permanent dependency on Forward Deployed Engineering.
Drive governed, measurable, and production-oriented adoption of GitLab Duo Agent Platform with strategic customers.
Identify and resolve AI adoption blockers involving governance, usage controls, auditability, security, compliance, operating models, workflow design, and integrations.
Develop customer-safe adoption patterns for the agentic software development lifecycle (SDLC), AI-assisted development, intent-based review, AI governance, and human-in-the-loop software delivery.
Partner with Product, Engineering, Field, and Customer Success teams to turn AI adoption learning into reusable guidance and product improvements.
Create technical narratives grounded in customer experience and product reality that can help shape the industry’s approach.
Contribute to Well-Architected Frameworks, whitepapers, webinars, reference architectures, technical strategy memos, and adoption frameworks.
Guide ideas through discovery, formulation, validation, amplification, and adoption across GitLab.
Partner with SA, CSA, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Product Marketing Management, CSM, Support, and executive stakeholders to make technical thought leadership a shared company capability.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Staff-level experience building, operating, or improving complex production software systems.
Experience contributing to large, mature product codebases with high standards for testing, maintainability, performance, and security.
Strong Ruby on Rails or Go experience and the ability to contribute directly to GitLab’s product and adjacent systems.
Experience with AI-assisted software development, agentic workflows, AI governance, model evaluation, context management, prompt and workflow design, or AI adoption in enterprise environments.
Experience diagnosing complex system behavior across application code, data stores, infrastructure, observability, networking, APIs, and customer usage patterns.
Deep knowledge of modern DevSecOps workflows, including Git, merge requests, CI/CD, security controls, compliance needs, and enterprise software delivery.
Experience working with strategic customers or senior technical stakeholders in ambiguous, high-impact situations.
The ability to coordinate across product, engineering, field, and customer teams without formal authority.
Strong written communication and sound judgment, including the ability to create technical narratives and distinguish reusable product work from customer-specific customization.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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