Partner Program Manager

GitLab

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Manager, Global Partner Programs translates GitLab’s ecosystem strategy into repeatable programs that help partners create value across the customer lifecycle: Acquire, Commit, and Consume. The role owns a portfolio of global partner program workstreams, which may include partner sourcing, services attach, adoption, renewals, managed service providers, global systems integrators, hyperscaler, and marketplace motions. It makes programs clear, usable, and measurable for partners and sellers across regions. This is a strategic individual contributor role that leads through expertise and influence rather than direct reports. The role collaborates with Ecosystem Sales, Partner Operations, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Product, Customer Success, and Enablement to launch and improve programs, recommend incentive and policy changes, and connect program activity to pipeline, revenue, and customer outcomes. Initial priorities include establishing a portfolio roadmap, simplifying partner requirements and rules of engagement, and developing consistent performance reporting. The role may expand to include leadership of partner program managers as the team grows. GitLab is a remote-first company with asynchronous collaboration across regions. Occasional travel may be required for partner meetings, planning, and program launches.

Requirements

Experience in partner programs, channel strategy, alliances, ecosystem operations, or a related go-to-market function.
A track record of taking complex programs from design through launch, adoption, measurement, and iteration.
Understanding of partner economics, including incentives, deal registration, market development funds, services programs, co-selling, and rules of engagement.
Ability to lead global, cross-functional work without direct authority, setting clear owners, decisions, and escalation paths.
Analytical judgment and ability to connect program activity to pipeline, revenue, and customer outcomes.
Strong written communication and ability to make complex commercial concepts simple for partners and sellers.
Program management discipline across prioritization, dependencies, risk, and follow-through, with a bias toward practical execution.
Openness to candidates with transferable experience who can build trust across teams and turn strategy into results.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with SaaS, cloud, DevOps, or AI partner ecosystems.
Familiarity with consumption-based pricing.
Familiarity with hyperscaler marketplace and co-sell programs.

Responsibilities

Own the roadmap, priorities, and execution for an assigned set of global partner programs across Acquire, Commit, and Consume, within agreed strategy, policy, and budget.
Coordinate requirements, milestones, owners, and risks across Ecosystem Sales, Partner Operations, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Services, Customer Success, Product, Enablement, and regional teams.
Improve the partner journey from onboarding and capability building through activation, co-selling, adoption, and expansion by turning partner and field feedback into prioritized program improvements.
Support the design and rollout of partner incentives, including margin, rebates, market development funds, deal registration, services attach, and consumption, and build business cases with Finance and Ecosystem leadership.
Maintain program guides, eligibility rules, approval flows, and documentation, partnering with Legal and Finance to ensure programs are compliant, auditable, and easy to understand.
Create playbooks, launch materials, and training with Enablement and regional teams to drive adoption of new programs and commercial changes.
Define success measures for each program, such as partner-sourced pipeline, services attach, adoption, and incentive use, and partner with Revenue Operations to report consistently.
Use performance data to recommend investment changes, reduce exceptions and manual work, and escalate decisions beyond the role’s scope.