Principal Data System Architect - Data Engineering & Monetization

An overview of this role

Join GitLab as Data System Architect to drive our strategic data platform evolution. You'll architect scalable distributed solutions that transform how we manage and leverage data across our SaaS and self-managed deployments supporting enterprise-scale growth and innovation.

What You’ll Do

• Drive architectural vision for scalable distributed data systems across SaaS and self-managed deployments designing database stack solutions that optimize OLTP/OLAP performance and scalability requirements

• Define enterprise data product standards and governance frameworks including data lineage SDLC versioning and compliance practices for regulated environments

• Build governed monetizable data services and APIs that support both internal operations/analytics and external SaaS product offerings with semantic structure

• Partner with product and engineering teams to embed modern agentic and AI-driven patterns into data infrastructure and customer-facing solutions

• Architect event-driven systems and cross-stack orchestration supporting hybrid transformations through tools like Argo Airflow and Kubernetes with unified metadata-rich telemetry

• Design end-to-end data lifecycle architecture covering integration pipelines transformation workflows and consolidated metadata systems across multiple platforms

• Establish CI/CD best practices for data systems ensuring reliable deployment monitoring and maintenance across diverse deployment models

• Transform ambiguity into strategic roadmaps and lead complex technical engagements where data architecture creates competitive differentiation

What You’ll Bring

• Experience architecting large-scale distributed data systems in complex regulated domains with unified platforms integrating cloud-native compute orchestration and semantic modeling

• Demonstrated leadership building multi-modal data services with strong developer experience principles focusing on monetization governance and data product lifecycle management

• Hands-on expertise with modern data stack technologies including Python Docker Airflow Trino Postgres distributed query engines and graph-based metadata systems integrating them into the GitLab ecosystem comprised of Ruby on Rails and Go services.

• Advanced knowledge bridging cloud and on-premises deployments with automation developer self-service focus and data integration through connector marketplaces

• Deep understanding of data processing paradigms and standards including synchronous vs. asynchronous processing schema management logical data modeling and formats like OpenTelemetry OpenMetadata and OpenLineage

• Experience with AI-driven architectures and emerging technologies including model orchestration agentic patterns and standards like MCP (Model Context Protocol)

• Strong architectural opinions on cost-aware resilient solutions that optimize entire data lifecycle decisions with focus on scalability and performance trade-offs

• Passion for open source platforms team mentorship and collaborative values with ability to build scalable solutions that align with organizational culture and technical excellence

About the team

Data Engineering and Monetization is a newly formed function within the Engineering Org with a mission to build a comprehensive foundation of data platforms with responsible data architecture that scales.

The base salary range for this role’s listed level is currently for residents of listed locations only. Grade level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education experience knowledge skills abilities of the applicant equity with other team members and alignment with market data. See more information on our benefits and equity . Sales roles are also eligible for incentive pay targeted at up to 100% of the offered base salary.

California/Colorado/Hawaii/New Jersey/New York/Washington/DC/Illinois/Minnesota pay range

$157900—$236900 USD