Director, Strategic Partnerships

ABOUT THE ROLE The Director, Strategic Partnerships will play a critical role in shaping GitLab's external relationships, driving partnership strategy, and executing on business outcomes. This is a single-threaded owner role within the Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships team, reporting to the VP, Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships. WHAT YOU'LL DO As the Director, Strategic Partnerships, you will be responsible for owning two of GitLab's most important external relationships. Your key responsibilities will include: - Serving as the primary owner and point of contact for one hyperscaler and one major AI lab, personally accountable for the direction, operating rhythm, and outcomes of each partnership. - Developing and driving multi-year partnership strategies and joint plans that connect GitLab's business priorities, product roadmap, and AI strategy with concrete partner initiatives. - Building strong working relationships across partner organizations, including executives, product management, engineering, sales, and marketing stakeholders. - Running a disciplined operating cadence across complex initiatives, with clear priorities, owners, timelines, coordination points, and follow-through. - Coordinating cross-functional work inside GitLab to support partnership goals, aligning teams across product, engineering, sales, marketing, and the executive group. - Translating partner opportunities and requests into actionable internal plans, including roadmap discussions, integration needs, commercial motions, and executive recommendations. - Tracking and communicating measurable partnership outcomes such as pipeline influence, annual recurring revenue impact, integration progress, and joint go-to-market execution. - Representing the partnerships at the executive level by preparing clear recommendations, briefing executives, and helping drive alignment on investments, trade-offs, and next steps. WHAT YOU'LL NEED To be successful in this role, you will need: - Significant experience building and managing strategic partnerships, business development relationships, or alliance programs in enterprise software, cloud, and/or AI. - A strong ownership mindset with the ability to operate as a single-threaded owner who is accountable for both strategy and execution. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill complex partnership topics into clear recommendations for executives and cross-functional stakeholders. - Strong project and program management skills, including the ability to organize complex workstreams, prioritize effectively, and keep multiple initiatives moving through direct, hands-on management. - Technical fluency in software development, platform integrations, and the AI or machine learning landscape. - Experience working with senior stakeholders on high-visibility initiatives, including preparing executive briefings, framing recommendations, and driving follow-through. - Ability to influence without formal authority, build strong working relationships across internal and external teams, and navigate multiple priorities with sound judgment. - Familiarity with the DevSecOps ecosystem and a results-oriented approach to measuring partnership impact through business and product outcomes. WHY REMOTE GitLab is a fully remote company, and this role will be no exception. As a remote employee, you will have the flexibility to work from anywhere and will be part of a global team that values collaboration, innovation, and continuous knowledge exchange. BENEFITS GitLab offers a range of benefits to support your career growth and well-being, including: - Competitive salary and bonus structure - Comprehensive health plan - Parental leave and education stip