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An overview of the role
As Vice President, Legal Commercial, you'll own the vision, strategy, and execution of GitLab's global commercial legal function at the most senior level below the CLO. Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer, you'll be a key member of the Legal leadership team and a trusted executive partner to the CRO, CFO, and broader GTM organization. You'll set the tone for how commercial legal operates as a strategic business enabler, accountable for the people, programs, and infrastructure that allow GitLab to transact at scale, with speed and integrity, across every market we operate in.
This role spans commercial contracting, strategic partnerships, AI governance, FedRAMP, and Public Sector contracting and procurement legal, leading a globally distributed team of 15–20 legal professionals, including managers organized by geography and subject matter expertise. This is a role for a seasoned legal leader who has already built something, who knows what great looks like at scale, and who is ready to shape the commercial legal function for a company operating at the intersection of DevSecOps, AI, and enterprise SaaS.
What You’ll Do
- Define and execute the long-term strategy for GitLab's global commercial legal function, aligning legal priorities with company-wide revenue growth, market expansion, and product evolution
- Serve as the primary legal executive partner to the CRO, CFO, and GTM leadership, advising on commercial strategy, enterprise deal structures, pricing and packaging risk, and AI-related contracting at the highest levels of complexity and materiality
- Build, lead, and develop a world-class team of commercial attorneys, contract managers, and legal ops professionals across multiple regions, fostering a high-performance, async-first culture with managers as direct reports organized by geography and subject matter expertise
- Set enterprise-wide standards for commercial contracting, including risk tiering, escalation frameworks, template governance, and playbook strategy that scale consistently across regions and deal types
- Benchmark AI-specific contractual terms across the enterprise SaaS market to ensure GitLab's standard positions reflect current market practice; lead GitLab's negotiating posture on AI deal issues, including data usage, model training, output ownership, liability allocation, and transparency obligations
- Work in sync with the CLO Chief of Staff on the continuous improvement and optimization of GitLab's CLM system with full integration across the Quote-to-Cash process, and champion AI tools and legal operations capabilities to drive contracting efficiency, pipeline visibility, and data-driven decision-making
- Lead GitLab's most significant strategic partnerships, including hyperscaler relationships, structuring and negotiating complex co-sell, reseller, and marketplace agreements in coordination with GitLab Ecosystems and Strategy Teams
- Oversee AI governance contracting across customer, partner, and supplier agreements, and translate evolving global AI regulations, including the EU AI Act and emerging U.S. frameworks, into practical contracting positions and contribute to policy guidance in concert with the Sr. Dir Public Policy
- Lead legal support for GitLab's facility clearance requirements and public sector commercial contracting, including federal and SLED agreements, FAR/DFARS compliance, and government contract vehicle requirements
- Lead the procurement legal function covering global vendor contracting, inbound SaaS, professional services, and infrastructure agreements, partnering with Finance, Security, and Privacy on vendor risk frameworks
- Serve as a senior voice on cross-functional initiatives involving Legal, Finance, Product, Revenue Operations, and Procurement, influencing decisions that shape how GitLab goes to market globally
What You’ll Bring
- 15+ years of combined law firm and in-house experience, with substantial tenure in a senior commercial legal leadership role at a global SaaS or enterprise technology company
- J.D. or U.S. law degree equivalent with bar admission in good standing in at least one U.S. state
- 5+ years leading and scaling teams of attorneys and contract managers, with a track record of developing legal talent and building high-functioning commercial legal organizations with managers as direct reports
- Hands-on experience owning or leading a CLM implementation or expansion, with working knowledge of Quote-to-Cash process integration across Sales, Finance, and Revenue Operations
- Demonstrated fluency in AI governance and product legal issues, including drafting or negotiating AI-specific contractual terms and advising on AI regulatory requirements; proven track record deploying AI-powered legal workflows at the team level, not just awareness of the tools
- Deep expertise in enterprise SaaS contracting, strategic partnerships, data privacy, and complex partner, channel, and public sector agreements, including familiarity with FedRAMP, FAR/DFARS, or equivalent frameworks
- Visionary but execution-oriented: someone who operates effectively at the strategy level without losing sight of the operational details that make a legal function run
- A genuine champion for AI-enabled legal work, with hands-on experience driving adoption of tools and workflows that make teams faster and smarter
- Exceptional executive presence and communication skills, with a proven ability to influence at the C-suite level and represent legal as a business growth partner
- Demonstrated ability to lead geographically distributed teams in a fully remote, asynchronous environment
About the Team
The Commercial Legal team partners with the Sales organization and other cross-functional stakeholders across GitLab to support how we sell and deliver our products and services. You’ll join our globally distributed team that works asynchronously and closely with internal clients, customers, and outside counsel to review, draft, and negotiate complex commercial and technology agreements, improve templates and playbooks, and provide practical guidance that helps teams move quickly while managing risk. Our focus includes scaling consistent contracting processes across regions, keeping pace with evolving legal requirements, including data privacy and artificial intelligence-related terms, and strengthening enablement through clear documentation and training.
How GitLab Supports Full-Time Employees
- 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
Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application.
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.
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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.