Senior Director, Global SME Solutions Architecture

As the Senior Director, Global Subject Matter Expertise (SME) Solutions Architecture, you will build and lead GitLab's Subject Matter Expert organization: three regional teams in AMER, EMEA and APJ, each covering Security & Compliance, Platform, Core DevSecOps, and AI & Competitive. This team is the depth layer of GitLab's technical selling model. It wins the most complex opportunities, scales product expertise into the Account SA team, and turns field insight into product direction. This is a leader of leaders role. You will manage three regional SME Managers, not individual contributors, and develop them as leaders in their own right.

Responsibilities

Set the strategy, operating model and global standards for the SME organization, aligned to the VP Global SA and GitLab's go-to-market plan; 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, through them, the full global team; Own the engagement model with the regional SA Senior Directors, Post-Sales SAs and Customer Success, including triage rules, coverage thresholds, closed-won handoff 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; Partner with Enablement to drive field readiness for new product launches, including Duo Agent Platform, security and platform offerings; Build strong relationships with key customers at the technical sponsor and executive level; Use AI to change how the team works, including deal research, demo creation, PoV automation and knowledge sharing; Drive organizational transformation by finding gaps early, building structure where none exists, and leading change without waiting for top-down direction

Requirements

5+ years second-line leadership experience (managing managers) in Solutions Architecture, Sales Engineering or a technical specialist organization; Experience building or scaling a specialist, overlay or global SA team in enterprise SaaS, DevSecOps, security or developer tools; A record of tying technical-team design to bookings and consumption outcomes, with the data to show it; The ability to lead through ambiguity and rapid organizational change, bringing clarity and direction while strategy is still forming; Strong relationships with Product and Engineering leaders, and a history of shaping roadmap from field insight; Fluency across the 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; A self-starting, entrepreneurial approach

Benefits

Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being; Flexible Paid Time Off; Team Member Resource Groups; Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan; Growth and Development Fund; Parental Leave