Strategic Partnerships Director

An overview of this role

As the Director, Strategic Partnerships, you will own two of GitLab's most important external relationships. This is a single-threaded owner role within the Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships team, reporting to the VP, Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships. You will shape partnership strategy from the top down and drive execution from the ground up — this is as much about running the weekly grind of a partnership as it is about setting its direction, turning strategic relationships into durable business outcomes.

This role sits close to GitLab's evolving AI strategy and the future of our AI-powered DevSecOps platform. You will help define where technical integration, commercial alignment, and joint go-to-market efforts can create the most value for GitLab. You will develop a clear point of view, represent these partnerships with senior stakeholders, and personally drive the day-to-day work that spans multi-year planning and weekly execution — chasing down blockers, keeping work streams on track, and doing the detailed follow-through yourself rather than delegating it.

What you'll do

• Serve 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, including the tactical work of keeping things moving week to week.
• Develop and drive multi-year partnership strategies and joint plans that connect GitLab's business priorities, product roadmap, and AI strategy with concrete partner initiatives — and then own getting those plans executed.
• Build strong working relationships across partner organizations, including executives, product management, engineering, sales, and marketing stakeholders.
• Run a disciplined operating cadence across complex initiatives, with clear priorities, owners, timelines, coordination points, and follow-through you drive yourself.
• Coordinate cross-functional work inside GitLab to support partnership goals, aligning teams across product, engineering, sales, marketing, and the executive group.
• Translate partner opportunities and requests into actionable internal plans, including roadmap discussions, integration needs, commercial motions, and executive recommendations.
• Track and communicate measurable partnership outcomes such as pipeline influence, annual recurring revenue impact, integration progress, and joint go-to-market execution.
• Represent 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 bring

• Significant experience building and managing strategic partnerships, business development relationships, or alliance programs in enterprise software, cloud, and/or AI — with a track record of being in the details, not just setting direction.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to operate as a single-threaded owner who is accountable for both strategy and execution, and comfortable doing the hands-on work personally rather than handing it off.
• 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, with comfort engaging engineering and product counterparts in substantive conversations.
• 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.

About the team

The Strategic Partnerships team owns the strategy and relationship management for some of GitLab's most consequential external partners, including hyperscalers and AI companies that are shaping the future of software development. We work across product, engineering, sales, marketing, and the executive group to turn partnerships into differentiated growth for GitLab and to ensure those relationships support our long-term platform strategy.

We play an especially important role as GitLab continues to expand its AI-powered DevSecOps vision. Our partnership work is both strategic and deeply operational: we set direction, but we also personally drive the joint plans forward through steady execution, clear communication, and cross-functional coordination. This is not a role for someone who wants to hand off execution to others. In a fully remote and asynchronous environment, we operate with a high degree of ownership, transparency, and collaboration.