Senior Backend Engineer (Ruby), Plan: Knowledge

We are seeking a Backend Engineer to join our growing Plan:Knowledge team as the Markdown expert and Directly Responsible Individual (DRI). The Plan:Knowledge team is focused on GitLab's suite of tools for knowledge management practices and collaboration, with particular emphasis on our markdown processing pipeline and text rendering systems.

As a Backend Engineer, you'll be the technical lead for GitLab's markdown infrastructure, including our GLFM (GitLab Flavored Markdown) implementation, the gitlab-glfm-markdown gem, and our Rust and Ruby based markdown processing systems. You'll work closely with experienced engineers across backend, frontend, security, and product teams while being the go-to expert for markdown-related architecture decisions and knowledge sharing.

Some key challenges you'll help solve include:

• Architect and maintain GitLab's markdown processing infrastructure that serves millions of users
• Ensure markdown rendering is secure, preventing XSS and other vulnerabilities
• Optimize markdown parsing performance for high-scale environments
• Evolve GitLab Flavored Markdown (GLFM) to compete with other knowledge management platforms
• Lead the technical direction for markdown-related features across the GitLab product

• Own and maintain the gitlab-glfm-markdown gem and its Rust-based components
• Work extensively with Comrak or other similar CommonMark parsers
• Develop secure, well-tested, and performant backend features using Ruby on Rails and Rust
• Lead the technical design and implementation of Banzai pipelines and markdown parsing improvements
• Collaborate with security teams to identify and mitigate markdown-related vulnerabilities and XSS risks
• Architect reference processing systems and markdown extension mechanisms
• Mentor other engineers on markdown best practices and share deep domain knowledge
• Collaborate with Product Management and stakeholders to iterate on markdown-related features
• Maintain high code quality standards through thorough code review and testing
• Contribute to GitLab's markdown documentation and internal knowledge sharing
• Troubleshoot complex markdown parsing and rendering issues across the platform
• Stay current with CommonMark specifications and markdown ecosystem developments

• Professional experience with Ruby on Rails
• Professional experience with markdown specifications, parsing, and rendering
• Professional experience with Rust programming and ecosystem
• Professional experience with Comrak or similar CommonMark parsers
• Deep understanding of web security, particularly XSS prevention in user-generated content
• Experience with automated testing in both Rust and Ruby
• Understanding of text processing pipelines and parsing
• Experience with performance optimization for text processing at scale
• Solid understanding of HTML sanitization and content security policies
• Experience using Git in a professional environment with complex branching strategies
• Demonstrated ability to architect and maintain large-scale text processing systems
• Strong communication skills for explaining complex technical concepts to diverse stakeholders
• Experience working in highly agile, iterative development environments
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of critical infrastructure components
• Positive mindset with strong problem-solving abilities

About the team

We work closely with the larger GitLab Plan Stage while maintaining our specialized focus on knowledge management. Our technical stack includes Rails, Go and Rust backends and Vue.js frontends.

You’ll be joining a team of 6 engineers. Plan:Knowledge team owns Markdown, Rich Text Editor, GLQL Views, Gitlab Wiki, GitLab Pages, and everything related to text editing in GitLab. Our focus is transforming knowledge management experience into a fully-featured collaborative solution that would be used across the entire GitLab product. 

As the Backend Engineer, you will work on the many highly requested features as well as maintaining the existing features. You’ll get to know our codebase, roadmap, and working methods. You will be empowered to take ownership and drive the implementation of the prioritized features or defects. You’ll help the team and community via code review, issue refinement, engaging with users and open-source contributors on public issues and merge requests, and advocating for process improvements.

• Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
• All remote, asynchronous work environment
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and development budget 
• Parental leave 
• Home office support

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.