Professional Services Engineer

Overview

Professional Services Engineers engage with customers to provide installation, migration, training, and advisory services. They handle installations ranging from single-node Omnibus installs, to our largest reference architectures utilizing IaC/CaC, execute migrations from multiple systems to GitLab SaaS or self-hosted, and providing advisory services across the entire GitLab feature stack.

Professional Services Engineers are expected to be able to interface not only with the customer, but with our GitLab Product/Engineering teams, to find the best route for customer success, and to help drive improvements into GitLab features and processes.

Professional Experience

At GitLab, due to the pace at which we are moving, people joining our team in an associate role will be expected to have some professional experience in the primary engineering tools of the specialty that they’ll be joining. For Professional Services Engineers, this means exposure or work experience using IaC/CaC technologies on one or more of the main cloud providers, as well as experience deploying, maintaining, and administering a GitLab instance.

Levels

Level	Grade
Associate Professional Services Engineer	Grade 5
Intermediate Professional Services Engineer	Grade 6
Senior Professional Services Engineer	Grade 7
Staff Professional Services Engineer	Grade 8

Performance Indicators

PSE: Billable utilization target >= 68% on 2080 hours/year, paid quarterly, reconciled each half

Field Functional Competencies

As members of the GitLab field organization, Professional Services Engineers will be expected to exhibit behaviors consistent with these metrics:

Customer Focus

Represents GitLab and GitLab values in public communication around broader initiatives, specific projects, and community contributions
Works with engagement leads to understand customer needs and metrics for success
Works with engagement leads and the customer to navigate the customers environment to achieve success
Communicates confidently with customers and peers in written and verbal communications

Solution Focus

Utilizes technical experience, and specific knowledge on the GitLab environment, to deliver the technical aspects of the engagement
Works with engagement leads to help the customer map out their DevOps transformation as it relates to GitLab and their tool chain

Operational Excellence

Learns and adopts current Professional Services processes for engagements
Represents GitLab and GitLab values in public communication around broader initiatives, specific projects, and community contributions
Liaises with GitLab customer support team to diagnose and troubleshoot support cases when necessary

General

This is a remote position
~20% travel may be required to customer sites

Associate Professional Services Engineer (Grade 5)

Responsibilities

Project Delivery

Uses a consultative approach to customer engagements - does not focus on just “doing the work”
Looks for opportunities to help the customer achieve their vision more effectively and efficiently
Delivers on SOW with guidance from technical architects and senior team members
Manages creation of new and/or maintenance of existing tooling, artifacts, and templates for deliverables and training

SOW Scope Includes

Installation and configuration of GitLab solutions in customer environments using standard reference architectures
Provide technical training sessions remotely and/or on-site following established curriculum
Provide documentation for implementation, guides, maintenance, etc. relevant to customer requirements
Develop and implement migration plans for customer VCS & data migration with guidance
Contributes to the extension and maintenance of documentation/scripts for implementation and workflow

Customer Engagement

Works closely with engagement leads to understand customer requirements
Participates in customer calls and technical discussions
Communicates progress and blockers clearly to project stakeholders

Requirements

Experience

1-2 years professional exposure with one or more IaC/CaC technologies: Terraform, Ansible, Packer, Puppet, Chef
1-2 years professional exposure with one or more cloud providers: AWS, GCP, Azure
Experience using, deploying, or configuring GitLab instances
Understanding of basic GitLab reference architectures

Skills

Proficient in the English language, both written and verbal, sufficient for success in a remote and largely asynchronous work environment
Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, sometimes with multiple customer engagements at once
Positive disposition and solution-oriented mindset
Effective communication skills: Regularly achieve consensus with peers, and provide clear status updates
Self-motivated and self-managing, with strong organizational skills
Shares GitLab values, and work in accordance with those values
Ability to thrive in a fully remote organization

Additional Skills

Development skills in Python, Ruby, or Go
Experience with the GitLab product as a user, contributor, or DevOps maintainer
Computer science education or equivalent experience

Intermediate Professional Services Engineer (Grade 6)

Responsibilities

Extends Associate responsibilities with the following

Independent Project Delivery

Independently delivers on SOW scope with minimal guidance
Documents opportunities to help the customer achieve their vision more effectively and efficiently
Communicates opportunities to the customer project and account team
Takes ownership of project workstreams and drives them to completion

Advanced Technical Implementation

Implements complex GitLab configurations and customizations
Performs advanced troubleshooting and optimization of GitLab instances
Develops custom migration strategies for complex customer environments
Creates reusable technical documentation and automation scripts

Customer Leadership

Directly interfaces with customer technical teams as the primary technical point of contact
Facilitates technical workshops and training sessions independently
Provides technical recommendations that influence customer decision-making
Manages customer expectations and project scope discussions

Team Contribution

Supports Associate engineers with technical guidance and knowledge sharing
Contributes to Professional Services process improvements and best practices
Participates in internal training and knowledge transfer sessions

Requirements

Extends Associate requirements with the following

Experience

2-4 years professional experience with multiple IaC/CaC technologies: Terraform, Ansible, Packer, Puppet, Chef
2-4 years professional experience with multiple cloud providers: AWS, GCP, Azure
Demonstrated experience deploying and administering GitLab across different license tiers
Experience with GitLab CI/CD, container registries, and advanced GitLab features

Advanced Skills

Demonstrated capacity to clearly and concisely communicate about complex technical, architectural, and/or organizational problems
Proven ability to work independently on customer engagements
Experience with containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)
Understanding of enterprise security and compliance requirements
Ability to create technical documentation and training materials

Additional Skills

Experience with deploying GitLab in Kubernetes environments
Advanced scripting and automation capabilities
Experience working with enterprise customers
Developer platform/tool industry experience

Senior Professional Services Engineer (Grade 7)

Responsibilities

Extends Intermediate responsibilities with the following

Technical Leadership

Provide feedback to Project Managers and Engagement Managers to make scheduled delivery more consistent
Continually work with Engagement Managers to streamline and improve delivery processes
Lead technical architecture decisions for complex customer implementations
Design and implement custom highly-available GitLab architectures

Team Leadership and Mentorship

Provide mentorship for Associate and Intermediate Professional Services Engineers to help them grow in their technical responsibilities and remove blockers to their autonomy
Deliver on one complex project as primary engineer while overseeing 1-2 smaller projects with 1-3 engineers each
Conduct technical interviews and participate in hiring decisions
Develop and deliver internal training programs

Strategic Impact

Exert influence on the overall objectives and long-range goals of the Professional Services team
Manage/oversee/deliver on multiple projects simultaneously, balancing hands-on delivery with oversight responsibilities
Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to provide field feedback and influence product roadmap
Represent Professional Services technical expertise in customer executive meetings

Customer Advisory

Build and maintain relationships with senior technical stakeholders at key customer accounts
Provide strategic technical guidance that influences customer long-term roadmaps
Lead complex, multi-phase implementations with multiple technical workstreams

Requirements

Extends Intermediate requirements with the following

Experience

4-7 years professional experience with advanced expertise in multiple IaC/CaC technologies
4-7 years professional experience with deep knowledge of major cloud providers and services
Proven experience with large-scale, enterprise GitLab deployments

Leadership Skills

Proven ability to independently manage multiple complex projects simultaneously
Proven ability to lead and provide direction to other Professional Services Engineers
Demonstrated experience mentoring and developing junior engineers
Proven ability to “think to the next question” and see the larger picture for customer engagements

Advanced Technical Skills

Proven knowledge and mastery with major cloud technologies and public cloud providers
Expert-level understanding of highly available architectures and disaster recovery concepts
Advanced troubleshooting and performance optimization capabilities
Proven ability to consider the business aspects of technical delivery decisions

Additional Skills

Long-term experience managing GitLab installations, preferably with Premium or Ultimate license levels
Experience with deploying in Kubernetes, deploying at scale, and managing large-scale applications
Experience in a peak performance organization, preferably a tech startup
Experience working with a global or otherwise multicultural team
Track record of contributing to open source projects or technical communities

Staff Professional Services Engineer (Grade 8)

Responsibilities

The Staff Professional Services Engineer up-levels the responsibilities and requirements of the Senior level, and places additional emphasis on leadership, enablement, planning, and execution. Staff engineers will be capable of executing long-term strategies for customers, in lock-step with our account teams, that lead and advise customers for faster time-to-value and set them up for long-term success.

Extends Senior Professional Services Engineer responsibilities with the following

Strategic Technical Leadership

Lead complex, multi-phase implementations with multiple workstreams spanning 6+ months
Design, lead, execute, and advise on long-term engagement plans that drive faster time-to-value for customers
Contribute to the technical vision and strategy for Professional Services organization
Represent Professional Services in cross-functional initiatives to improve the overall GitLab customer experience

Advanced Enablement and Mentorship

Provide advanced technical mentorship to Associate, Intermediate, and Senior Professional Services Engineers
Develop mentorship programs and technical career development paths for the team
Lead technical training initiatives and establish best practices across the organization
Create and maintain technical competency frameworks and skill development programs

Innovation and Scale

Deliver on one or two complex projects as primary engineer while overseeing 2-3 smaller projects, OR lead a single large-scale, multi-workstream project with 1-3 engineers per workstream
Identify and implement process and technology improvements that scale across Professional Services delivery
Develop reusable technical solutions, automation, and frameworks that can be leveraged across multiple customer engagements
Create high-quality technical artifacts such as runbooks, automation tools, and reference architectures that enable the broader team

Strategic Customer Partnership

Build and maintain relationships with C-level and senior technical stakeholders at strategic enterprise customers
Shape long-term customer technical roadmaps and DevOps transformation strategies
Execute multi-year strategic engagements that establish GitLab as the central platform for customer DevOps practices
Collaborate closely with account teams to identify expansion opportunities and drive customer success metrics

Cross-Functional Influence

Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to inform product decisions based on extensive field experience
Influence GitLab product roadmap through strategic customer insights and technical requirements
Partner with Sales Engineering to develop technical win strategies for strategic accounts
Work with Customer Success to ensure seamless handoffs and long-term customer adoption

Requirements

Extends Senior Professional Services Engineer requirements with the following

Strategic Experience

7+ years professional experience with demonstrated thought leadership in cloud technologies and DevOps practices
Proven track record of executing long-term (6+ month) strategic technical engagements
Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multi-phase implementations with multiple concurrent workstreams
Experience working directly with C-level executives and senior technical decision-makers

Advanced Leadership Skills

Established ability to mentor and develop technical capabilities across all engineering levels including other Senior engineers
Excellent project leadership skills with demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and oversee distributed teams of 1-3 engineers per project
Proven track record of creating high-quality technical artifacts and processes that enable organizational scale
History of improving and standardizing technical practices that are adopted organization-wide

Expert Technical Skills

Expert-level knowledge and innovation with major cloud technologies and public cloud providers
Advanced understanding of enterprise architecture patterns, security frameworks, and compliance requirements
Proven ability to architect and implement large-scale, multi-region GitLab deployments
Strong technical problem-solving skills with ability to address novel customer challenges and create innovative solutions

Strategic Impact

Demonstrated leadership in establishing industry best practices and technical standards
Proven ability to balance complex technical decisions with strategic business considerations
Track record of driving measurable improvements in customer time-to-value and long-term success metrics
Experience influencing product direction and organizational strategy through field insights

Additional Skills

Experience architecting and implementing enterprise-scale GitLab deployments across multiple cloud providers
Advanced scripting, automation, and infrastructure-as-code capabilities
Deep understanding of software development methodologies, DevSecOps practices, and enterprise DevOps transformation
Ability to translate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical executive audiences
Track record of contributing to the broader GitLab, DevOps, or open source community through thought leadership
Experience with strategic enterprise customers in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, government)
Advanced knowledge of GitLab’s enterprise features and integration ecosystem
Experience with partner ecosystem and ability to work effectively with system integrators and consulting partners

About GitLab

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. Learn more about Life at GitLab. 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 organisation.

See our culture page for more!

Work remotely from anywhere in the world. Curious to see what that looks like? Check out our remote manifesto and guides.

Last modified June 20, 2025: Adding header links (1ee29fc5)

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