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Salary: USD 244,200 - 409,500 / annual
GitLab is seeking a Senior Director, Global SME Solutions Architecture to build and lead its Subject Matter Expert (SME) organization across three regional teams (AMER, EMEA, APJ). This is a leader-of-leaders role managing three regional SME Managers who oversee specialists in Security & Compliance, Platform, Core DevSecOps, and AI & Competitive domains.
The SME organization serves as the depth layer of GitLab's technical selling model, winning complex opportunities, scaling product expertise across the Account SA team, and translating field insights into product direction. You will set strategy, operating model, and global standards aligned with the VP Global SA and go-to-market plan.
Key responsibilities include:
- Build the resourcing model from product-level bookings and consumption targets, sizing each product group by region.
- Act as the field's senior partner to Product Management and Engineering, running a structured feedback loop that shapes roadmap, launch readiness, and early-access programs.
- Hire, mentor, and develop regional SME Managers and the full global team.
- Own engagement models with regional SA Senior Directors, Post-Sales SAs, and Customer Success, including triage rules, coverage thresholds, and escalation paths.
- Create and improve processes, metrics, and KPIs for SME-led technical evaluations, workshops, demos, and Proofs of Value.
- Partner with CRO staff, regional sales leaders, and AVPs on product-category performance, forecast risk, and competitive strategy.
- Drive field readiness for new product launches (Duo Agent Platform, security, platform offerings) with Enablement and Product Marketing.
- Build strong relationships with key customers at technical sponsor and executive levels.
- Leverage AI to transform team workflows, including deal research, demo creation, PoV automation, and knowledge sharing.
- Drive organizational transformation by identifying gaps early, building structure, and leading change independently.
You will be measured on: global product-category commit attainment and consumption growth; time from technical win to first production workload on SME-engaged opportunities; SME coverage and engagement speed on top 10% of opportunities; account team capability lift; product impact via field sentiment and roadmap adoption; and team health metrics (hiring, manager development, engagement, retention).
The SME organization is part of GitLab's Solutions Architecture team, distributed and all-remote, relying on clear communication, strong judgment, and shared operating practices across regions.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of second-line leadership experience (managing managers) in Solutions Architecture, Sales Engineering, or technical specialist organizations.
- Experience building or scaling a specialist, overlay, or global SA team in enterprise SaaS, DevSecOps, security, or developer tools.
- Proven track record tying technical-team design to bookings and consumption outcomes, with supporting data.
- Ability to lead through ambiguity and rapid organizational change, bringing clarity and direction while strategy is forming.
- Strong relationships with Product and Engineering leaders; history of shaping roadmap from field insight.
- Fluency across software development lifecycle, application security (SAST, DAST, SCA), cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), Kubernetes, and AI-assisted development including LLM evaluation and production deployment patterns.
- Executive presence with technical practitioners, managers, and C-level stakeholders.
- Proven ability to partner across Sales, Partners, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Customer Success, and Professional Services.
- Self-starting, entrepreneurial approach; ability to write playbooks rather than wait for them.
