Director of Engineering, Security Factory

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

What you’ll do

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

What you’ll bring

• Experience leading engineering organizations with multiple teams and managers in a distributed environment.
• Strong understanding of application security fundamentals, including Static Application Security Testing, Software Composition Analysis, secret detection, vulnerability management workflows, and software supply chain security.
• Experience building detection, analysis, or scanning systems in a software as a service or DevSecOps environment, including trade-offs across precision, recall, latency, and scale.
• Direct experience shipping a customer-facing AI or machine learning product feature tied to detection or remediation quality outcomes.
• Ability to partner closely with product management on roadmap planning, prioritization, and requirements in a product-led context.
• Strong written communication skills and comfort leading through clear documentation in a remote, async-first organization.
• Collaborative leadership style that supports teams, gives direct feedback, and aligns with GitLab’s values.
• Familiarity with agentic 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 Factory group 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.

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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.