Gitlab SME

Title: GitLab CI/CD Subject Matter Expert Location: Manassas, VA — 100% onsite Type: Contract-to-hire (6-month contract, then direct conversion) on a 3+ year program. Clearance: Active or Interim DoD Secret required. U.S. Citizenship required. Schedule: 5x8s or 4x10s (three days off per week). The Short Version We're looking for a true GitLab SME — someone who has lived inside .gitlab-ci.yml at scale — to help migrate a massive legacy build system off Jenkins and onto GitLab CI/CD. This is not a "maintain the pipelines" job. It's a re-architecture job on one of the more genuinely difficult CI/CD problems out there, supporting an advanced engineering program in the defense sector. The Problem You'd Be Solving The current build system is a monolithic Jenkins/bash setup covering: • ~150 repositories • 60M+ lines of code • 30–40 programming languages Full builds take six hours. Static code analysis runs once a week and takes 24+ hours. Developer feedback loops are, to put it gently, not where they need to be. Your job is to break that apart — map the dependency graph, define modular build boundaries, and rebuild it in GitLab CI/CD so teams get fast, reliable, parallelized feedback. You'll be using GitLab's needs keyword and a custom runner strategy to model dependencies, with a sizable catalog of existing shared CI/CD components available to leverage rather than reinvent. This work is also the tip of the spear for a broader GitLab rollout landing across multiple programs by the end of 2026. You'll be demoing to leadership regularly and your decisions will set the pattern other teams follow. What You'll Actually Do • Assess a large, complex legacy codebase and its existing CI/CD pipeline, then build the strategic roadmap for modular (not monolithic) builds • Design and implement GitLab CI/CD pipelines: job separation, artifact flow between stages, dependency orchestration, runner configuration • Troubleshoot compilation and build failures at the code level — not just the pipeline level • Identify blockers rooted in technical debt or system constraints and drive pragmatic fixes • Come up to speed fast on the existing catalog of shared CI/CD capabilities and integrate what fits • Work cross-functionally with development, security, and program stakeholders to validate every proposed enhancement end to end What We Need From You Required: • Deep GitLab CI/CD expertise. You should be able to walk through the most complex pipeline you've built — how it was structured, how jobs passed artifacts and dependencies to one another, and what broke along the way. Basic pipeline authoring won't clear the bar here. • A real software engineering background — hands-on with large-scale codebases in C, C++, and/or Java. Pipeline-only candidates struggle the moment a compilation error shows up. • Strong command of build automation and scripting: Make, Gradle, Bash • Bachelor's in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or comparable STEM discipline • Active or interim DoD Secret clearance, U.S. Citizenship, and eligibility to work at a facility requiring special access Strongly preferred: • You've personally led a migration of a large codebase or build system from one platform to another (legacy SCM/Jenkins → GitLab is the exact flavor here) • Modular architecture fluency: microservices, service boundaries, API contracts, design patterns, SOLID • Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, Ansible • SAST tooling (Fortify or equivalent) and binary repository management (Artifactory, Nexus) • Infrastructure-as-Code, automated testing, release pipeline construction • Prior experience supporting cleared programs in a classified environment