GitLab
Principal, Strategic AI Partnerships
Job Summary
This role focuses on establishing and managing strategic AI partnerships to enhance GitLab's ecosystem. The ideal candidate will research and prioritize emerging AI platforms, negotiate partnership agreements, and support joint go-to-market strategies. Collaboration with engineering, product, marketing, and leadership teams is essential to ensure seamless integrations and maximize partnership value. The position requires experience in business development, technical collaboration with AI/ML workflows, and project management within enterprise software or AI industries.
Required Skills
Benefits
Job Description
GitLab is an open-core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations. Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating human progress. Our platform unites teams and organizations, breaking down barriers and redefining what's possible in software development. Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise and Duo Agent Platform, customers get AI benefits at every stage of the SDLC.
The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.
The Strategic Alliance & Partnership team identifies and incubates 3rd party partnerships that unlock new growth opportunities for GitLab. We focus on external collaboration opportunities aligned with GitLab's Product Strategy, working closely with Field CTOs, Developer Relations, and Contributor Success teams to evaluate value propositions and potential ARR impact.
Responsibilities
Drive GitLab's strategic partnerships with AI platforms and agentic solutions that create a "graduation path" for developers into the GitLab ecosystem. You'll identify, prioritize, and secure partnerships with influential AI coding platforms and open-source communities, positioning GitLab as an indispensable component of AI-enhanced development workflows.
This position targets emerging AI tools and platforms to capture new developer audiences and funnel them toward GitLab's advanced AI offerings like the Duo Agent Platform. You will shape how millions of new and emerging developers experience GitLab, ensuring our platform is the natural next step as their AI-driven projects grow in complexity and value. This role would require close collaboration with our AI-powered engineering teams, product management, Ecosystem/alliances team and executive leadership to evaluate and scope the levels of Technology and GTM integration that would drive maximum benefit for GitLab’s AI strategy.
Strategic Partnership Development:
- Research and analyze the rapidly evolving AI platforms landscape, identifying key trends and emerging leaders
- Develop prioritized target lists based on user adoption, market influence, and "graduation path" potential
- Execute targeted outreach to founders and product leaders at AI tool companies and open-source projects
- Negotiate partnership agreements that drive platform integrations, co-marketing, and user progression pathways
- Understand the traditional DevSecOps competitive landscape as well as emerging players (OpenAI/Anthropic/Cursor) and identify unique opportunities with independent AI providers
Business Development & Execution:
- Build authentic relationships with key stakeholders, positioning GitLab as the preferred DevSecOps backend
- Develop joint go-to-market strategies with partners to accelerate mutual growth
- Coordinate joint customer engagements, proof-of-concepts, and partnership showcases
- Collaborate with Marketing and Developer Relations teams to amplify partnership announcements
- Interface with executive leadership on AI partnership investments and priorities
Cross-functional Coordination:
- Serve as primary business liaison for technical AI integrations with engineering teams
- Translate partner needs into actionable integration requirements
- Collaborate with Product Management on AI roadmap alignment
- Support Marketing and Sales teams with partner-related content and competitive positioning
Technical Partnership Management:
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- Serve as the primary business liaison for technical integrations with AI partners, working closely with engineering teams and product management to ensure seamless implementation
- Maintain deep technical understanding of GitLab's AI feature suite and future development direction
- Collaborate closely with Partner Engineering teams to scope joint roadmap with most strategic partners aligned with GitLab's AI roadmap, provide technical requirements, integration timelines, and partnership constraints
Requirements
- 5+ years hands-on experience with GitLab, GitHub, or similar DevOps platforms and Git-based workflows
- 1+ year experience with AI integrations and understanding of AI/ML workflows with developer tools
- Problem Solving and Analytics skills for strategic thinking with ability to balance short-term execution with long-term partnership vision based on market opportunities
- Strategic partnership experience or business development in enterprise software or AI/ML companies
- Excellent project management skills with the ability to coordinate complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives
- Excellent communication skills for presenting to executive leadership and engaging with external founders/product leaders
- Results-oriented mindset with a focus on measurable partnership outcomes and business impact
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience
Compensation
To view the full job description and its compensation calculator, view our handbook. The compensation calculator can be found towards the bottom of the page.
Additional details about our process can be found on our hiring page.
The base salary range for this role’s listed level is currently for residents of listed locations only. Grade level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, equity with other team members, and alignment with market data. See more information on our benefits and equity. Sales roles are also eligible for incentive pay targeted at up to 100% of the offered base salary.
Country Hiring Guidelines: GitLab hires new team members in countries around the world. All of our roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process.
Privacy Policy: Please review our Recruitment Privacy Policy. Your privacy is important to us.
GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. GitLab’s policies and practices relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression), national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information (including family medical history), discharge status from the military, protected veteran status (which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans), or any other basis protected by law. GitLab will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. See also GitLab’s EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.
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