Director of Engineering, Security Factory

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100* trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster.

The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.

*Fortune 500® is a registered trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, used under license. Claim based on GitLab data. Fortune 100 refers to the top 20% ranked companies in the 2025 Fortune 500 list, published in June 2025. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of GitLab.

An overview of this role

As Director of Engineering, Security Factory, you will lead the engineering organization responsible for GitLab’s customer-facing security capabilities across our AI-powered DevSecOps platform. You’ll help shape how customers detect, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities across modern software workflows by guiding teams that build proprietary scanners, AI-driven detection engines, agentic remediation flows, and supporting security foundations. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, Sec section, you’ll set the engineering vision and roadmap for a distributed group of nine teams, including engineering managers, and create the conditions for strong delivery, sound technical direction, and healthy team growth.

Some examples of our projects:

• Advanced proprietary scannersfor Static Application Security Testing, Software Composition Analysis, Secret Detection, and related AI and machine learning detection engines
• Agentic security flowsfor autofix and guided remediation, plus research that strengthens AI security, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, and security foundations

What you’ll do

• Setthe engineering vision and multi-quarter roadmap across teams working on proprietary scanners, AI-driven security workflows, research functions, vulnerability management, and security foundations.
• Leada distributed engineering organization of managers and individual contributors, with a focus on team performance, engagement, and career development.
• Drivearchitectural decisions for AI and machine learning detection engines, agentic remediation flows, and scalable scanning infrastructure.
• Partnerwith product management to define priorities, shape requirements, and deliver security capabilities for customers in regulated and security-conscious environments.
• Ownthe engineering delivery of GitLab’s proprietary application security scanners, agentic remediation workflows, and AI Security Research efforts.
• Representthe Security Factory stage in cross-functional planning, executive reviews, security disclosures, and customer conversations.
• Establishengineering standards for delivery, observability, incident response, scanner quality, and code quality.
• Contributeto GitLab’s transparent, async-first way of working through issues, merge requests, and the GitLab handbook.

What you’ll bring

• Experience leadingengineering organizations with multiple teams and managers in a distributed environment.
• Strong understanding ofapplication security fundamentals, including Static Application Security Testing, Software Composition Analysis, secret detection, vulnerability management workflows, and software supply chain security.
• Experience buildingdetection, analysis, or scanning systems in a software as a service or DevSecOps environment, including trade-offs across precision, recall, latency, and scale.
• Direct experience shippinga customer-facing AI or machine learning product feature tied to detection or remediation quality outcomes.
• Ability to partnerclosely with product management on roadmap planning, prioritization, and requirements in a product-led context.
• Strong written communication skillsand comfort leading through clear documentation in a remote, async-first organization.
• Collaborative leadership stylethat supports teams, gives direct feedback, and aligns with GitLab’s values.
• Familiarity withagentic AI systems, AI agent orchestration, threat intelligence research, or open source security tooling is useful, and we welcome candidates with adjacent or transferable experience.

About the team

The Security Factorygroup builds the customer-facing security capabilities of GitLab’s AI-powered DevSecOps platform. The organization includes nine teams working across proprietary scanners, AI-driven detection, agentic remediation, research, vulnerability management, and security foundations, and it collaborates asynchronously across regions with product management and other cross-functional partners. The team is focused on improving detection quality, scaling security workflows for enterprise use, and strengthening how GitLab helps customers secure the software supply chain. For more on how this team works, see the Sec Engineering Handbook page. 

How GitLab Supports Full-Time Employees

• Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
• Flexible Paid Time Off 
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental Leave  

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.