Software Engineering Manager, Software Supply Chain Security: Human Authentication

GitLab is an open core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations.

Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating the rate of human progress. This mission is integral to our culture, influencing how we hire, build products, and lead our industry. We make this possible at GitLab by running our operations on our product and staying aligned with our values.

Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise and Duo Workflow, customers get the benefit of AI at every stage of the SDLC. The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier. All team members are encouraged and expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact across our global organization.

An overview of this role

As an Engineering Manager for the Human Authentication & Identity team at GitLab, you'll lead a talented group of engineers who are fundamentally transforming how user authentication and enterprise identity management works across our platform. This role addresses one of GitLab's most complex engineering challenges: scaling authentication systems to serve millions of users across diverse deployment models while maintaining enterprise-grade security.

At GitLab, we see our team as our product. While you'll need to be technically credible in enterprise identity management and authentication frameworks, your primary focus will be on nurturing your team's health, hiring exceptional talent, and positioning them for success.

You'll collaborate closely with Product Managers to shape the roadmap for modern authentication features that balance security, usability, and performance at enterprise scale.

Your leadership will be instrumental as we execute our multi-phase Auth Architecture Redesign, including building the Identity and Access Management (IAM) Service. This is a unique opportunity to lead critical infrastructure work that touches every enterprise customer while solving complex distributed systems challenges including global authentication at GitLab.com scale, multi-tenant organization boundaries, and other technical complexities.

What You'll Do

Strategic Leadership & Architecture Execution

• Lead the design and implementation of GitLab's next-generation Identity and Access Management (IAM) Service to support global scale and multi-tenancy
• Navigate the technical complexities of supporting multiple deployment models: GitLab.com (millions of users), self-managed installations, and Dedicated instances

Team Development & Technical Excellence

• Build and lead a team of talented engineers focused on human authentication and enterprise identity systems
• Hire and onboard senior ICs with deep enterprise identity experience (SAML, LDAP, OIDC)
• Mentor existing team members transitioning from the legacy authentication team structure
• Foster a culture of security-first development and zero-trust principles

Enterprise Identity & Scale Challenges

• Guide implementation of enterprise SSO integrations that must handle millions of authentication requests daily
• Oversee LDAP, SAML, and OIDC protocol implementations that scale across diverse enterprise environments
• Solve complex performance challenges including authentication latency, session storage optimization, and global identity synchronization
• Design identity federation systems that work seamlessly across air-gapped, cloud, and hybrid deployments

What You'll Bring

Technical Leadership Experience

• 5+ years of software engineering management experience with large-scale identity systems
• Deep expertise in enterprise identity protocols: SAML, LDAP, OIDC and similar
• Understanding of complex session management, credential lifecycle, and enterprise security compliance at scale
• Familiarity with zero-trust security models, context-aware authentication systems, and modern authentication patterns

Leadership & Team Building

• Proven track record of building and scaling engineering teams
• Experience hiring and developing senior engineers
• Strong technical communication skills for complex authentication system discussions

Performance Indicators

In addition to the standard Engineering Manager performance indicators, this role will also be measured on:

Architecture & Performance Delivery

• Successful implementation of IAM Service components that demonstrate improved scalability and performance
• Measurable improvements in authentication latency, system throughput, and global availability

Team Development Success

• Successful hiring and onboarding of senior ICs within first 6 months
• Team satisfaction and retention metrics during major architectural transition
• Individual contributor growth and skill development in enterprise identity systems

About the team

The Human Authentication & Identity team is one of three newly structured teams within GitLab's Software Supply Chain Security stage, specifically created to address GitLab's most complex authentication and scale challenges.

Your team will tackle some of the most challenging problems in distributed systems: global authentication consistency, multi-tenant security isolation, zero-downtime migrations of critical infrastructure, and the complex performance requirements of serving authentication requests at GitLab.com scale.

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.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.