Staff Engineer, People Technology

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps, enabling organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation.

About the role

As a Lead People Systems Engineer, you'll drive how GitLab's People systems evolve through an AI-first transformation mindset, putting AI to work across everything we build. You'll own the code, pipelines, and integrations that keep GitLab's People automation ecosystem running reliably at scale across Workato, Google Cloud, Claude, Workday, and the tools that power our global workforce. This role is ideal for a software engineer who thrives at the intersection of people systems, AI, innovation, and automation engineering.

You'll serve as the technical backbone of our People Technology team, designing, building, and maintaining the automations, agents, and integrations that connect Workday, Greenhouse, Slack, and internal tools. Your work will focus on reducing manual processes, improving system reliability, and creating a scalable People technology foundation.

Responsibilities

• Own the design, development, and maintenance of people system automations and integrations across Workato, Google Cloud Platform, Claude, Workday, Greenhouse, and GitLab, writing reliable, well-tested code that runs at scale.
• Build and maintain integrations between Workday, Greenhouse, Slack, and internal tools using Workday Web Services (WWS) and Slack's API and Bot SDK, diagnosing failures proactively and driving uptime and reliability improvements.
• Write, version, and maintain automation code in Ruby (or comparable scripting languages) stored in GitLab, with clear documentation, code reviews, and disciplined change management practices.
• Develop and manage Slack apps and bots that deliver intuitive, automated workflows, reducing friction for People teams and employees across a globally distributed workforce.
• Diagnose root problems, challenge assumptions, and co-design automation solutions that are durable, scalable, and built to last.
• Serve as subject matter expert on Workato automation architecture, driving standardization, reusability, and scalability across the People technology integration layer.
• Maintain and improve CI/CD pipelines and deployment practices for People system automation, ensuring changes are tested, reviewed, and safely deployed using GitLab.
• Leverage AI tools, large language models (LLMs), and Model Context Protocol (MCP) frameworks, including Claude, to accelerate automation development and eliminate manual work.
• Provide technical guidance to teammates and stakeholders, proactively communicating context and decision-making, partnering closely with InfoSec, AI Engineering, and IT.
• Exercise independent judgment on methods and evaluation criteria to obtain quality results, leading others by sharing solutions and problem-solving approaches.

Requirements

• Hands-on experience writing and maintaining code in Ruby or a comparable scripting language (Python, PHP, etc.); willingness to learn Ruby if needed.
• Deep expertise in Workato or a comparable enterprise automation/integration platform, with a track record of building reliable, scalable automation workflows in production.
• Strong experience integrating with Workday using Workday Web Services (WWS), with a focus on durable, observable, and edge-case-resilient integrations.
• Experience building Slack apps and automations using Slack's API and Bot SDK, with an emphasis on usability.
• Proficiency with Git and GitLab for version control, code review, and CI/CD workflows; treat automation code like production software.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or AWS; experience with Docker and Kubernetes (GKE is a bonus).
• Experience connecting HR systems including Workday, Greenhouse, and internal tools, with strong instincts for reliability.
• Comfort working with AI tools and MCP frameworks to accelerate development and automate repetitive work.
• Strong communication skills, translating technical architecture into clear decisions and stakeholder updates.
• An engineering mindset applied to people systems: prioritize reliability, observability, and maintainability.
• People system fluency: understand HR data flows, their importance, and how to handle them accurately in automations.
• Intellectual curiosity and a bias for action: proactively identify and address system brittleness.

About the Team

The People Technology team builds the systems foundation that allows GitLab to scale as a global, all-remote company. The team focuses on improving reliability, usability, and intelligence across the platforms that power the People organization, working across core systems, integrations, automation, and compliance. They partner closely with stakeholders across time zones to move fast, build with purpose, and create technology that enables people to do their best work.

Benefits

• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental leave
• Home office support

Pay

The base salary range for this role’s listed level is currently for residents of the United States only. Grade level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, equity with other team members, alignment with market data, and geographic location.