Distribution Engineer, Distribution: Build

GitLab (View all Jobs)

Remote, EMEA

Please mention No Whiteboard if you apply!
I'm a one-man team looking to improve tech interviews, and could use any support! 😄


Interview Process

1. A series of video calls 2. Coding exercise involving working on a Merge Request that is like a real work task

Programming Languages Mentioned

Golang, Ruby, SQL


The GitLab DevSecOps platform empowers 100,000+ organizations to deliver software faster and more efficiently. We are one of the world’s largest all-remote companies with 2,000+ team members and values that foster a culture where people embrace the belief that everyone can contribute. Learn more about Life at GitLab.

An overview of this role

As a Distribution Engineer, your work within the Distribution Build team will help us manage the build pipelines, research support for new services, platforms, and architectures, as well as maintain existing ones. You will be tasked with ensuring the components that make up GitLab are up-to-date, license compliant, and available for our users’ platforms and architectures. 

Distribution Build engineering regularly interfaces with broader development teams in supporting newly created features. The Distribution Build team is involved with diverse projects and tasks that include assisting community packaging efforts.

Some interesting links about the team and role:

What you’ll do  

  • Manage access controls, permissions, and CVE patches
  • Maintaining the install, update, and upgrade pages
  • Work on Dependency updates, License management and submissions to partners for validations/certifications
  • Build and maintain the infrastructure used for creating the various installation methods

What you’ll bring 

  • Familiarity with GNU/Linux build toolchains (make, gmake, etc.)
  • Production experience with building container images and container build tooling.
  • Experience with Debian and RHEL based systems, and building/packaging archives such as .deb and .rpm
  • Experience using Continuous Integration systems (e.g., GitLab CI, GitHub Action, Jenkins, Travis).
  • Experience with Ruby in production (Golang is a nice bonus)
  • Familiarity with building and packaging cloud native applications.
  • Proficiency in the English language, both written and verbal, sufficient for success in a remote and largely asynchronous work environment.
  • User of modern DevOps platforms. (GitLab is a bonus.)
  • Knowledge of service scaling and rollout strategies. (Desirable)

About the team

The Distribution team is composed of two subgroups: Distribution:Build and Distribution:Deploy. 

The Build team is focused on producing artifacts including system packages, container images, and related components like marketplace listings along with tooling required to create and maintain them. The Deploy team is focused on installation and upgrade mechanisms to ensure smooth deployments. This includes system integration, scripting, templating, and related configuration management tooling. 

In addition to product deliverables, both groups review a large number of MR's authored outside the team. These include dependency and security updates along with configuration controls and other bundled components like PostgreSQL, Consul, Patroni. Deployments include everything from single node deployments for evaluating GitLab all the way through the 50K user reference architecture and beyond. The primary goal is to ensure end users have a high-speed, low-friction experience when managing GitLab with limited downtime or service disruptions.

How GitLab will support you

Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application.


Country Hiring Guidelines: GitLab hires new team members in countries around the world. All of our roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process.  

Privacy Policy: Please review our Recruitment Privacy Policy. Your privacy is important to us.

GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. GitLab’s policies and practices relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression), national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information (including family medical history), discharge status from the military, protected veteran status (which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans), or any other basis protected by law. GitLab will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. See also GitLab’s EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.

Please mention No Whiteboard if you apply!
I'm a one-man team looking to improve tech interviews, and could use any support! 😄


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