Director, Engineering – Platform Operations & Productivity

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in India.

📋 Description

• Take charge of outcomes for Git & Gitaly Operations, which includes recruiting and nurturing the Manager for Git & Gitaly Operations, ensuring the function meets its reliability standards across Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated, and SaaS.

• Be responsible for outcomes related to Nonlinear Productivity, also referred to as Friction Elimination, involving the hiring and development of the Manager for Nonlinear Productivity, and ensuring the function focuses on measurable metric improvements instead of mere activity.

• Create and manage a small, senior team for Platform Staff that integrates AI-assisted tools as a fundamental aspect of their operations.

• Evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the responsibilities assigned to Platform Staff, such as initiating a new team, addressing a specific customer request that falls outside existing team charters, or responding to a crisis requiring immediate attention.

• Determine when Platform Staff should transition tasks to a permanent team once stability is achieved.

• Establish the technical standards across all three functions by personally reviewing distributed systems designs, solutions for friction elimination, and crisis management strategies with thorough attention.

• Develop the operational rhythm and metrics necessary to ensure all three functions operate reliably without depending on any individual working unsustainable hours.

• Act as the representative for all three functions to peer engineering stakeholders, and engage directly with customers during crisis situations when Platform Staff is involved.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proficient understanding of GitLab's development workflows and platform capabilities to effectively assess productivity friction, operational trade-offs, and team requirements in context.

• Practical experience in designing and deploying distributed systems personally, rather than solely through teams you have managed.

• Proven history of managing highly efficient engineering operations, including production reliability and incident management, at a significant scale.

• Demonstrated success in driving quantifiable engineering productivity enhancements across multiple teams or organizations.

• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools and sound judgment regarding their use to enable small teams to accomplish tasks that would typically necessitate a larger team.

• Experience in people management across several managers or functions simultaneously.

• Ability to effectively switch contexts between distinctly different problem types, including infrastructure operations, developer productivity, and immediate crisis responses, sometimes within the same week.

• Proven ability to make staffing decisions that maintain a high-leverage team at a deliberately small size, while fostering alignment around those decisions rather than expanding the team by default.

🏝️ Benefits

• Benefits designed to support your health, finances, and overall well-being

• Flexible Paid Time Off

• Team Member Resource Groups

• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan

• Growth and Development Fund

• Parental Leave