Director, Customer Experience Strategy

About GitLab and the Role

GitLab is a comprehensive orchestration platform for DevSecOps used globally by over 50 million users and trusted by more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. Our culture emphasizes leveraging AI to boost productivity, foster innovation, and empower all employees. We encourage collaboration and value every voice while building transformative technology for software development.

This leadership position is pivotal in guiding the strategic direction of the post-sales organization. The Director of Customer Experience Strategy partners closely with the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) to steer the Global Customer Experience teams including Customer Success, Renewals, and Professional Services. The role focuses on strategic business planning, customer lifecycle design, segmentation strategies, executive support, program leadership, and insights that enhance retention, expansion, adoption, and customer lifetime value.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish the vision and set priorities for the Customer Experience Strategy team aligning analytics, programs, and planning with the customer lifecycle and GitLab’s goals.
• Manage annual and ongoing strategic planning processes covering business plans, coverage, segmentation, staffing, investment proposals, executive reviews, and prioritization across CX functions.
• Create and refine business models, key performance indicator frameworks, and executive reports to facilitate improved decisions on customer health, growth, retention, and operational efficiency.
• Lead important cross-departmental initiatives by structuring ambiguous challenges and aligning stakeholders from CX, Sales, Finance, Product, Revenue Operations, and Data teams throughout project lifecycles.
• Design customer lifecycle strategies including journey mapping, engagement tactics, handoffs, and program development to uplift customer experiences and field team performance.
• Collaborate with Product and customer-facing leaders to integrate customer feedback, adoption metrics, and voice-of-customer data into product roadmaps, programs, and strategic choices.
• Define business requirements and build compelling cases for system, tooling, reporting, and procedural enhancements with CX Operations and Revenue Technology partners.

Qualifications and Experience

• Substantial experience in strategy, analytics, customer success, renewals, revenue operations, consulting, or business planning within B2B SaaS organizations.
• Strong commercial insight linking customer lifecycle approaches to financial, operational, and go-to-market results.
• Proven ability to lead and influence complex cross-functional initiatives without direct authority among senior stakeholders.
• Experience in recruiting, mentoring, and directing high-performing distributed teams.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving aptitude, capable of interpreting complex data to formulate clear strategic recommendations and business cases.
• Proficiency with CX and go-to-market platforms such as Salesforce, Gainsight, BI tools, spreadsheets, SQL, and defining data/tooling requirements.
• Excellent communication skills to produce polished executive presentations, proposals, and documentation.
• Comfort operating within a fully remote, asynchronous, and values-centric work environment requiring strong ownership, iterative improvement, and open communication.

Team Overview

The Customer Experience Strategy team is compact but highly impactful, operating as a strategic partner across the Customer Experience division to guide the complete customer journey from initial purchase through adoption, renewal, expansion, and advocacy. This team supports decision-making, prioritizes investments, and drives improved outcomes through strategy, analytics, planning, and key cross-functional programs.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for U.S.-based candidates for this role is between $168,000 and $285,600 annually. This reflects the base salary and does not include bonuses, equity, or benefits. Sales roles may be eligible for incentive compensation up to 100% of base pay. Benefits include comprehensive support for health and wellbeing, flexible paid time off, participation in employee resource groups, equity programs, growth funds, and parental leave.

Equal Opportunity and Hiring Practices

GitLab is committed to diversity and inclusion, and encourages applications from candidates with varied experience levels. The company operates under equal employment opportunity policies without regard to protected characteristics such as race, gender, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected categories. Reasonable accommodations are provided during the recruitment process as needed.

Additional Information

GitLab is a fully remote employer with roles available globally, though some positions may have location-specific requirements. The recruitment privacy policy safeguards applicant information throughout the hiring process.