Manager, People Business Partners

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.

An overview of this role

As the Manager, People Business Partners, Engineering, you'll be a strategic partner to engineering leaders, VP/Sr. Director level, helping them navigate change, mature their organizations, and build a healthy, high-performance culture. You'll focus on engineering-specific challenges such as evolving job architecture and leveling, supporting leadership transitions at the executive level, and driving consistency in how we develop, calibrate, and grow engineering talent across distributed teams. In this role, you'll work on a global scale, with a particular focus on supporting leaders globally, and you'll play a key part in making complex transformations feel clear and manageable for both leaders and their teams.

You’ll report into the PBP organization and work closely with peers like current and former Engineering PBPs to shape how GitLab’s engineering function operates as we continue to grow. You’ll be expected to quickly build trust with senior engineering leaders, lean into engineering-wide processes like calibrations and offsites, and help bring cohesion to a leadership team that spans tenured GitLab team members and newer leaders. This is a good fit if you enjoy working in a fast-paced tech environment, are comfortable with ambiguity and change, and want to make a visible impact on how engineering teams are structured, supported, and set up to deliver results.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with senior engineering leaders, including VP/senior directors, to understand their organizations, priorities, and challenges, and translate these into clear people and business priorities.
• Drive and support job architecture changes in Engineering, including the introduction of new levels, to help leaders adopt and mature consistent role expectations and career paths.
• Lead and facilitate key Engineering people processes, such as calibrations, in close partnership with the PBP team and cross-functional partners like Talent Management.
• Advise and coach engineering leaders on topics such as organization design, change management, and navigating global teams, including basic EMEA considerations.
• Work closely with other PBPs and Talent partners to share insights, align on approach, and ensure a consistent, high-quality experience for Engineering leaders and their teams.
• Use data and qualitative feedback to identify trends in the Engineering organization and recommend actions that improve effectiveness, engagement, and performance.
• Support planning and execution of Engineering offsites and other key forums so leaders can align on priorities, make decisions, and move work forward efficiently.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience as a People Business Partner or similar role supporting engineering or technical organizations, ideally with exposure to fast-paced tech environments of comparable size and complexity.
• Background working with senior leaders, including Senior Directors and Vice Presidents, with the ability to build trusted relationships, influence decision-making, and provide clear, data-informed guidance.
• Experience supporting globally distributed teams, including familiarity with working across multiple regions and time zones and navigating regional differences such as those in EMEA.
• Comfort operating in periods of organizational change or transformation, such as job architecture updates, leadership transitions, or shifts in team structure and culture, while balancing strategic work (for example, organizational design, leadership effectiveness, and culture initiatives) with hands-on execution of core People processes.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, including working asynchronously and partnering cross-functionally with Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, and other People teams.
• Openness to learning GitLab’s ways of working and applying transferable experience from related domains (such as product or IT) while developing a deeper understanding of engineering needs.

About the team

The Engineering People Business Partner (PBP) team supports GitLab's Engineering teams globally, to build a high-performing, scalable, and globally distributed organization. You'll partner closely with senior leaders on these teams, whose members are based across the US and EMEA. You'll also collaborate asynchronously with other PBPs, Talent Management, and cross-functional partners to support organization design, performance and calibration processes, and ongoing culture and leadership development. The team is focused on maturing Engineering's people practices, creating cohesion across leaders who are at different stages in their GitLab journey, and helping the organization navigate major transformations in structure, ways of working, and leadership.

You can expect quarterly travel for Engineering and PBP offsites and collaborative forums. This role also requires significant working hours overlap with US Central or East Coast time zones to support the team's global operations across multiple time zones. Candidates based in other locations who can accommodate these hours are welcome to apply.

How GitLab will support you

• 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
• Home office support

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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