Senior Engineering Manager, Design
GitLab · France
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $240,000 / year
- France
Job highlights
- Lead engineers for design system and docs.
- Define engineering practice within design.
- Guide technical architecture decisions.
- Advocate for engineering quality.
- Collaborate across teams on solutions.
About the role
Senior Engineering Manager, Design Systems at GitLab
GitLab is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead a foundational team within the Upstream Studios organization. This role is pivotal in managing the Pajamas Design System and docs.gitlab.com, impacting the coherence and usability of the entire GitLab product and serving millions of users. This is a unique opportunity to define engineering leadership within a design-focused group, reporting to the Chief Design Officer and collaborating across multiple departments.
About the Role
As the first Engineering Manager embedded in Upstream Studios, you will lead a dedicated team focused on the Pajamas Design System and the docs.gitlab.com platform. You will have significant influence in shaping the engineering practice within this new function. Your responsibilities will include guiding architectural decisions, refining contribution workflows, and empowering a high-impact team to perform leveraged work. You will foster cross-functional partnerships, particularly with Product Design and Technical Writing, to translate design and content requirements into scalable technical solutions. A key aspect of this role is advocating for engineering quality, addressing technical debt, accessibility, security, and platform reliability.
What You'll Do
- Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of engineers working on the Pajamas Design System and GitLab documentation site.
- Define and build the engineering practice within Upstream Studios, influencing its future shape.
- Guide architecture and technical decisions for the design system (components, tokens, patterns) and the docs site (performance, reliability, infrastructure, localization).
- Educate stakeholders across the organization on the strategic value of a well-maintained design system and documentation platform.
- Advocate for engineering quality, including technical debt, accessibility standards, customer issues, security, and platform reliability.
- Collaborate with Product Design and Technical Writing to translate design and content needs into scalable technical solutions.
What You'll Bring
- Experience leading infrastructure, platform, or development teams, with a proven record of building high-performing, values-aligned teams.
- Deep expertise in design systems, including design tokens, component architecture, accessibility standards, and contribution models.
- Excellent technical background with professional experience in Git, docs-as-code, Hugo, accessibility, and design system development.
- Experience building and supporting multi-lingual sites and localization workflows at scale.
- Professional experience with JavaScript (Vue.js) and familiarity with Elasticsearch, Ruby/Go, AI tools, and CI/CD practices.
- Strong expertise in running and scaling large, consumer-grade platforms, focusing on reliability, security, performance, and scalability.
- Proficiency in English, written and verbal, for effective remote and asynchronous communication.
- Demonstrated ability to clearly communicate complex technical, architectural, and organizational challenges and propose iterative solutions.
- Experience with performance and optimization problems, with the ability to diagnose and prevent them.
- Comfort working in a highly agile, iterative software development process.
- Passion for open source and developer tools, with a commitment to GitLab's values, inclusive culture, and high-performance expectations.
About The Team
Upstream Studios is GitLab's full-stack experience organization, responsible for the entire product lifecycle from ideation to deployment. They integrate research, design, frontend engineering, documentation, and brand into a unified pipeline, shaping the customer experience.
Key skills/competency
- Engineering Management
- Design Systems
- Pajamas Design System
- Technical Leadership
- Product Development
- Accessibility
- JavaScript (Vue.js)
- CI/CD
- Platform Engineering
- Open Source
Skills & topics
- Engineering Manager
- Design Systems
- Pajamas Design System
- Technical Leadership
- Product Development
- Accessibility
- JavaScript
- Vue.js
- Hugo
- CI/CD
- Platform Engineering
- Remote
- DevOps
- Open Source
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight leadership, design systems, and platform engineering experience. Quantify achievements.
- Showcase technical skills: Emphasize Git, Vue.js, Hugo, accessibility, and CI/CD in your application.
- Demonstrate leadership: Provide examples of mentoring, team growth, and managing technical debt.
- Understand GitLab's values: Align your application and interview responses with GitLab's values and culture.
- Prepare for interviews: Be ready to discuss complex technical challenges and collaborative problem-solving.
Technical preparation
Master JavaScript (Vue.js) and related frameworks.,Deeply understand design system architecture and tokens.,Practice docs-as-code and Hugo deployment.,Familiarize with CI/CD and platform scaling.
Behavioral questions
How do you foster team growth and collaboration?,Describe a complex technical challenge you solved.,How do you advocate for engineering quality?,How do you build cross-functional partnerships?
Frequently asked questions
- What is the primary focus of the Senior Engineering Manager, Design Systems role at GitLab?
- The Senior Engineering Manager, Design Systems role at GitLab focuses on leading engineers responsible for the Pajamas Design System and the docs.gitlab.com platform, aiming to ensure product coherence and serve millions of users effectively. This leadership role involves defining engineering practices within a design organization and guiding technical decisions.
- What technical expertise is most crucial for this Senior Engineering Manager position at GitLab?
- Crucial technical expertise for this role includes deep knowledge of design systems (tokens, components, accessibility), professional experience with Git, docs-as-code, Hugo, JavaScript (Vue.js), and familiarity with CI/CD practices. Experience with scaling large platforms and localization workflows is also highly valued.
- How does GitLab support career growth for its Senior Engineering Managers?
- GitLab supports career growth through a high-performance culture, continuous knowledge exchange, and a Growth and Development Fund. As a Senior Engineering Manager, you'll have opportunities to shape new functions, lead impactful projects, and collaborate with industry leaders, fostering significant professional development.
- What is the expected work environment for the Senior Engineering Manager, Design Systems role at GitLab?
- The work environment is remote and largely asynchronous, requiring strong written and verbal English communication skills. GitLab fosters an agile, intensely iterative software development process, emphasizing collaboration, inclusivity, and high performance.
- Can candidates with varying levels of experience apply for the Senior Engineering Manager role at GitLab?
- Yes, GitLab welcomes interest from candidates with varying levels of experience and acknowledges that successful candidates may not meet every single qualification. They encourage individuals excited about the role to apply so recruiters can assess their application.
- What is the importance of the Pajamas Design System at GitLab?
- The Pajamas Design System is fundamental to GitLab's product, powering the coherence and consistency across the entire GitLab application. It's a company-wide platform that engineers across the organization depend on and contribute to, making its effective management critical.
- How does GitLab integrate AI into its workflows, and how does this apply to the Senior Engineering Manager role?