Principal Engineer, Software Supply Chain Security

GitLab's Software Supply Chain Security stage engineering teams are dedicated to authentication and access within GitLab. They develop features that assist customers in managing vulnerabilities, dependencies, security policies, and compliance frameworks. The group includes four core teams: Authentication, Authorization, Pipeline Security, and Compliance, comprising over 40 engineers. They operate asynchronously across regions, collaborating closely with product, security, and infrastructure teams to deliver secure-by-default features for customers in highly regulated industries.

Introduction

As the Principal Engineer, Software Supply Chain Security at GitLab, you will lead the technical strategy for securing software built and delivered on GitLab’s DevSecOps platform. This role involves providing architectural leadership, partnering with infrastructure and CI/CD teams, and shaping GitLab’s enterprise security posture in the software supply chain security market.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end software supply chain security architecture for GitLab’s CI/CD platform, including SLSA Level 3 implementation and CI infrastructure hardening.
• Drive cross-team technical strategy and decisions across Software Supply Chain Security (SSCS) stage teams, aligning engineering work to SSCS strategic plans.
• Collaborate with infrastructure and CI/CD teams to design and implement long-term initiatives for secure, scalable runner architecture, container isolation, and pipeline security at scale.
• Propose and validate technical implementations that support architectural changes to improve CI/CD scaling and performance on critical paths.
• Teach, mentor, and coach Staff Engineers and individual contributors on supply chain threat modeling, secrets management, artifact signing, and SBOM lifecycle practices.
• Partner with Engineering Managers and senior leadership to define roadmaps, break down complex initiatives, and enable Staff Engineers to lead sub-department-wide efforts.
• Engage with customers and external stakeholders as a technical consultant and spokesperson for GitLab’s software supply chain security capabilities and roadmap.
• Collaborate with product, security, and compliance stakeholders to ensure features meet enterprise security, governance, and regulatory expectations in the software supply chain security market.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in software supply chain security, including threat modeling for supply chain attack vectors, SLSA implementation and attestation systems, and SBOM generation and lifecycle management.
• Strong knowledge of artifact signing and verification using the Sigstore ecosystem, including Cosign, Fulcio, Rekor, and in-toto attestations.
• Experience designing and hardening CI/CD security, such as runner isolation, pipeline security controls, and secrets management in large-scale environments.
• Background in distributed systems and infrastructure, including building resilient CI/CD platforms that process high pipeline volumes and optimizing performance for critical paths.
• Practical experience with container security and Kubernetes security, including admission controllers, policy controllers, workload isolation, and registry hardening.
• Proficiency in Go or Rust in a production environment, combined with expert-level understanding of CI/CD workflows and DevSecOps best practices.
• Experience operating as a Principal or Staff Engineer across multiple development teams, providing architectural leadership and partnering with Engineering Managers and senior leaders.
• Demonstrated capacity to clearly communicate complex problems and solutions.

About Company

GitLab's Software Supply Chain Security stage engineering teams are dedicated to authentication and access within GitLab. They develop features that assist customers in managing vulnerabilities, dependencies, security policies, and compliance frameworks. The group includes four core teams: Authentication, Authorization, Pipeline Security, and Compliance, comprising over 40 engineers. They operate asynchronously across regions, collaborating closely with product, security, and infrastructure teams to deliver secure-by-default features for customers in highly regulated industries.