Director, Database Excellence - PostgreSQL & Cells

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps, trusted by over 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100 to ship software faster and more securely.

As the Director of Engineering, Database Excellence, you will set the technical direction, long-range platform plans, and operational strategy for the datastores powering GitLab.com, self-managed GitLab, and GitLab Dedicated. Reporting directly to the VP of Data Engineering, you will lead a globally distributed organization comprising three Engineering Managers (Database Architecture, Database Automation, and Self Managed Database) and an Operations Manager. You will hold ultimate accountability for database capacity, availability, and cost efficiency on GitLab.com, primarily focusing on PostgreSQL alongside Redis, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, and object storage. Additionally, you will partner with Infrastructure, Product, Distribution, and FinOps to guide company-wide datastore evolution, including Cells partitioning and self-managed upgrade automation.

Key Responsibilities

• Datastore Strategy & Long-Range Planning: Set the strategic direction and architectural roadmap for application datastores across GitLab.com, self-managed, and Dedicated environments.
• Capacity, Availability & Risk Ownership: Own database capacity planning, availability outcomes, and saturation detection on GitLab.com; communicate datastore risks and trade-offs to senior executive leadership.
• People Management & Leadership Development: Lead, coach, and manage three Engineering Managers and Staff-plus engineers; own organization design, hiring plans, retention, and performance management across globally distributed remote teams.
• Cross-Division & FinOps Collaboration: Partner with Product to prioritize platform investments against business outcomes; collaborate with Infrastructure, Security, Support, and FinOps to manage the database infrastructure budget and reduce operational costs.
• SRE & Incident Governance: Apply Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles (SLOs, error budgets, on-call operations, incident management) while serving as an escalation point for major database incidents.
• Self-Managed & Cells Architecture: Drive database standardization, rebuild the self-managed upgrade/migration experience, and contribute to company-wide datastore partitioning initiatives (Cells).

Requirements

Engineering Management & PostgreSQL Depth

• Manager-of-Managers Leadership: Proven experience leading managers of managers, coaching new engineering managers, and developing Staff-plus technical leaders.
• Large-Scale PostgreSQL Expertise: Hands-on experience operating PostgreSQL at massive scale, including capacity planning, major version upgrades, replication topologies, performance tuning, and multi-terabyte cluster management.
• Self-Managed / On-Prem Software: Background supporting software that customers run themselves, including navigating complex upgrade paths and database migrations.
• SRE & Production Infrastructure: Track record leading backend engineering teams owning high-scale production infrastructure using SRE frameworks (SLOs, automated failover, incident response, cost optimization).
• Data-Driven Strategy: Success leveraging operational data to make high-impact technical decisions and connect infrastructure investments directly to product outcomes.
• Async & Remote Fluency: Outstanding written communication skills adapted for an asynchronous, handbook-first operating environment, with a history of leading globally distributed teams.

Work Logistics

• Remote position open to candidates residing within the United States (global candidates subject to regional country guidelines).

Preferred Qualifications

• Technical familiarity with Redis, ClickHouse, OpenSearch, Object Storage, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Kubernetes, Terraform, or Chef.
• Experience implementing managed database services, FinOps cost-optimization frameworks, or AI-assisted software engineering workflows.
• Background in platform or core infrastructure organizations supporting high-concurrency SaaS products.

Total Rewards & Benefits

• Compensation & Equity: Base salary range of $230,400 – $345,600 USD + equity compensation grants + Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP).
• Time Off & Well-Being: Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO), parental leave, and Team Member Resource Groups (TMRGs).
• Health & Growth: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision health coverage, plus a dedicated Growth and Development Fund for continuous learning.