Director, Support (EMEA)
Job description
About the role
The Director, Support (EMEA) is responsible for leading the Support Engineering team across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, driving a culture of operational excellence and unwavering customer satisfaction. This role owns the end-to-end management of support engineering operations, shaping regional strategy while actively contributing to and influencing global support initiatives. You will guide a team of managers and senior individual contributors, fostering their career development and ensuring consistent execution across diverse countries and time zones. The position requires accountability for key performance indicators, including service levels, ticket quality, resolution success, and customer satisfaction scores within the EMEA region. You will establish clear standards and performance expectations for direct managers and senior staff, ensuring alignment with GitLab's global objectives. A critical part of this role involves enhancing shift handoffs and coordination with Product Engineering and Support Engineering centers in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Bengaluru. You will also champion the adoption and continuous refinement of GitLab's AI toolset within EMEA, collaborating closely with Support Operations and Strategy on implementation, data analysis, and capacity planning. This role represents the voice of the EMEA customer internally, identifying trends, escalating product issues, influencing the product roadmap, and engaging in customer or partner discussions that require executive presence. You will partner with peers to develop and execute the global Support Engineering strategy, covering geographic coverage, quality benchmarks, knowledge sharing, operating models, annual planning, headcount projections, and regional roadmaps.
Key facts
What you'll do
Oversee all aspects of people management for the EMEA Support Engineering group, including performance management, career growth, succession planning, retention strategies, internal movement, and fostering team culture across various countries in the region.
Direct managers and senior individual contributors spread across EMEA time zones, establishing clear performance standards, providing guidance, and fostering consistent, high-quality results.
Collaborate with the EMEA People Business Partner on employment matters specific to different jurisdictions, ensuring compliance and engaging with Works Councils where necessary to support team members.
Be accountable for regional performance against service level targets, customer satisfaction scores, ticket quality, resolution success rates, escalation procedures, and accurate reporting on global key performance indicators.
Enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of shift handoffs and coordination for requests with Product Engineering and Support Engineering centers located in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Bengaluru.
Drive the adoption, usage, and continuous improvement of GitLab's AI toolset within EMEA, working closely with Support Operations and Strategy on tools, data analysis, capacity forecasting, and staffing models.
Represent EMEA customer needs internally by identifying systemic trends, escalating critical product issues, influencing the product roadmap, and participating in customer or partner discussions requiring executive presence and advocacy.
Contribute to the development and refinement of the global Support Engineering strategy alongside peer managers, covering geographic coverage, quality benchmarks, knowledge sharing methodologies, operating models, annual planning initiatives, headcount projections, and regional roadmaps.
Provide leadership and mentorship to managers and senior individual contributors, developing their skills in people management, performance coaching, and operational execution within a distributed environment.
Ensure that support engineering processes, tools, and workflows are optimized for efficiency, scalability, and alignment with GitLab's overall mission and customer expectations across the EMEA region.
Requirements
Demonstrated experience in technical support engineering or a similar customer-facing technical field, with a strong understanding of support operations and challenges.
Proven experience managing managers, senior individual contributors, and distributed teams within a manager-of-managers structure, fostering empowerment and accountability.
Experience leading multi-country teams in the EMEA region, with a solid understanding of employment considerations, cultural nuances, and effective cross-time zone communication strategies.
A history of successfully managing service delivery, including achieving service level objectives, handling complex escalations, and maintaining high operational performance in a globally distributed support environment.
Clear written and verbal communication abilities, including the capacity to engage with executives at various levels and collaborate effectively in both synchronous and asynchronous communication settings.
Proficiency with support platforms such as Zendesk, Salesforce, Decagon, or comparable enterprise systems for managing customer interactions and data.
Familiarity with DevSecOps, CI/CD, Kubernetes, cloud-native infrastructure, or GitLab, acquired through customer-facing roles, platform usage, administration, or deep support operations experience.
A demonstrated ability to analyze complex situations, make data-driven decisions, and implement solutions that improve support processes and customer outcomes.
Commitment to fostering an inclusive and collaborative team environment that respects diverse cultures, working styles, and professional backgrounds across the EMEA region.
Nice to have
Experience with or a strong interest in AI-assisted support delivery, with the ability to guide its implementation, refine associated workflows, and measure its impact on customer satisfaction and team efficiency.
Skills & tools
Zendesk, Salesforce, Decagon, DevSecOps, CI/CD, Kubernetes, Cloud-native infrastructure, GitLab
Practical notes
This is a full-time remote position based in the United Kingdom. GitLab offers comprehensive benefits for health, finances, and well-being, flexible paid time off, team member resource groups, equity compensation and an employee stock purchase plan, a growth and development fund, and parental leave. The company encourages applications from candidates with varied experience levels and hires globally; while roles are remote, specific location eligibility may apply.