Tech Lead at GitLab

Tech Lead at GitLab

At GitLab, Tech Lead is an archetype and a role. When we think about “Tech Lead” as an archetype we mean that Staff+ Engineers at GitLab are supposed to exhibit patterns of behavior that make them act as technical leaders, who partner with Engineering Managers and Product Managers to support milestone planning, coordination, sequencing and then help teammates address complexities with their deliverables.

“Tech Lead as an archetype” is an expectation, especially for Staff+ Engineers, but “Tech Lead as a role” can be assigned to any Engineer, regardless of their seniority. The primary factor taken into the account when assigning a Tech Lead role is efficiency, and optionally domain knowledge and/or expertise that might stem from assigning this role to a given individual contributor.

The Tech Lead Role

At GitLab, a Tech Lead might be an individual contributor with additional responsibilities. Every engineer regardless of their seniority can be a Tech Lead. This is a temporary role that is tied to a specific topic / project. We allow teams to have multiple Tech Leads at the same time for different projects. They may be overseeing the work of additional engineers on the project, and remain aware of the moving pieces across them.

An engineer who is acting as a Tech Lead is not a manager, and the role itself is not an additional seniority level.

Responsibilities of a Tech Lead

Tech leads wear many hats. Their responsibilities may differ from project to project but may include:

1. Providing technical vision and architecture, defining and evolving the overall technical specification for a given project.
2. Providing technical guidance and mentoring to other engineers on the team.
3. Planning and prioritizing work, organizing the engineering effort by breaking down bigger tasks into smaller actionable items.
4. Tracking progress on commitments and reporting status updates.
5. Risk management, identifying, assessing and managing technical risks that may impact deliverables.
6. Coordination, overseeing the work of others and helping remove blockers.

The Engineering Manager (EM) can also help provide support in project management, but it is up to the tech lead and EM to decide on who owns what to ensure these responsibilities are covered.

Slack channel

There is Slack channel available #tech_leads (internal) where Tech Leads can collaborate together, and ask questions about the role or an archetype of a Tech Lead. Everyone else is welcome too!