Engineering Manager, Database Reliability, Scalability & Operations

An overview of this role

As an Engineering Manager for our Database Reliability, Scale & Operations team, you’ll build and lead the group that owns GitLab.com’s PostgreSQL backbone. You’ll shape our database strategy and architecture, guide data store selection for different use cases, and drive operational excellence so our customers experience a fast, always available platform as we continue to grow. Your work will span technical leadership and people management. You’ll hire and coach exceptional engineers, set clear and measurable objectives, and act as a force multiplier by enforcing healthy database practices and helping the team move from reactive firefighting to proactive planning. You’ll collaborate closely with Platform/Infrastructure, Product, Development, and Support teams, serve as the escalation point for Tier-2 on-call, and ensure lessons from running PostgreSQL at scale feed back into how GitLab builds and operates its product.

Some examples of our projects:

• Scaling PostgreSQL horizontally and vertically to support GitLab.com growth
• Improving performance, capacity, compliance, and availability of our database infrastructure

What you’ll do

• Lead the Database Reliability, Scale & Operations team to ensure availability, security, scalability, and operational excellence for GitLab.com
• Define and drive database strategy, including data store selection for different use cases and cost optimization across environments
• Build, coach, and retain a high-performing, distributed engineering team, creating an environment where team members can thrive and deliver results
• Set clear objectives, establish healthy database practices, and hold the team accountable while acting as a force multiplier for their impact
• Collaborate with Platform, Infrastructure, Product, Development, and Support teams to influence and advocate for sound database decisions across GitLab
• Serve as the escalation point for the team’s Tier-2 on-call process to help GitLab.com meet availability and reliability goals
• Lead agile projects focused on PostgreSQL reliability, performance, capacity management, and scaling initiatives in an asynchronous, remote-first environment
• Translate complex database and distributed systems topics into clear, actionable language for technical and non-technical stakeholders

What you’ll bring

• Experience leading distributed engineering teams responsible for reliability, scale, and operations in a production environment
• Background in hiring, coaching, and developing engineers, with a focus on building healthy team culture and sustainable on-call practices
• Applied experience designing and operating database systems at scale, including PostgreSQL and distributed data stores, with attention to performance, availability, and security
• Ability to define database strategy, including data store selection and cost-conscious architectural decisions, in collaboration with product and platform stakeholders
• Practice setting clear, measurable objectives, establishing operational best practices, and holding teams accountable while remaining open to feedback and iteration
• Skill in collaborating across infrastructure, platform, product, and support teams to drive shared outcomes and resolve complex technical issues
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to explain database decisions and risks to leadership and non-technical partners
• Openness to candidates with diverse backgrounds and transferable skills relevant to database reliability, large-scale systems, and technical people management

About the team

At GitLab, our Database Reliability, Scale & Operations team is responsible for building, running, and owning the full lifecycle of the PostgreSQL database engine that powers GitLab.com. We focus on reliability, scalability, performance, and security of the database and its supporting services, and we develop patterns and frameworks that guide how GitLab grows and scales its database infrastructure for both SaaS and self-managed customers. We work asynchronously across regions, using engineering principles and production learnings to inform our decisions and to feed improvements back into Product, Development, and Support. We partner closely with Support when self-managed customers encounter complex database issues and continuously look for ways to move from reactive problem-solving to proactive capacity planning, compliance alignment, and resilience engineering.