Vice President, Legal Commercial

About the role

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100* trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster. 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. You will own the vision, strategy, and execution of GitLab's global commercial legal function at the most senior level below the CLO. You will serve as a key member of the Legal leadership team and a trusted executive partner to the CRO, CFO, and broader GTM organization. You will 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.

Key facts

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 and complex commercial transactions, owning end-to-end negotiation, drafting, review, and execution of enterprise agreements, MSA, SLA, and related transaction documents.

Champion the adoption of AI-enhanced legal operations tools to streamline contract lifecycle management, automate clause library management, and enhance cross-functional collaboration between Legal, Sales, and Customer Success.

Partner with Security, Compliance, and Product teams to ensure commercial contracts and related policies support rapid, secure deployment of GitLab solutions, including FedRAMP and Public Sector requirements.

Act as the primary escalation path and subject matter expert for high-risk, high-value deals, providing clear, timely, and actionable legal guidance to commercial stakeholders.

Requirements

You are a licensed attorney in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction with a minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible legal experience, including at least 5 years in commercial legal roles with demonstrated leadership of teams and budgets.

You have built, led, and scaled legal organizations in enterprise SaaS or high-growth technology environments, with a proven track record of managing complex commercial transactions and mitigating enterprise legal risk.

You possess deep expertise in commercial contracting, including negotiation, drafting, and execution of enterprise agreements, MSAs, SLAs, and procurement contracts, with particular experience in technology and SaaS markets.

You have hands-on experience benchmarking and shaping AI-related contractual terms and negotiating AI model agreements, data usage provisions, and liability and indemnification frameworks.

You have demonstrated success partnering with GTM leadership, Sales, Finance, and Security/Compliance to align legal strategy with business objectives and drive deal execution.

You are fluent in legal operations and CLM platforms, with experience optimizing contract lifecycle processes, governance, and analytics in fast-paced, distributed organizations.

You have managed remote, cross-functional teams and operate effectively in an async-first, globally distributed environment.

You are comfortable operating at the intersection of DevSecOps, enterprise SaaS, and emerging AI technologies, and you understand the related compliance and risk considerations.

You hold a J.D. degree from an accredited law school and have strong written and oral advocacy skills.

Nice to have

Experience with FedRAMP contracting and Public Sector procurement legal matters is preferred.

Knowledge of AI governance frameworks, model evaluation, and responsible AI practices is preferred.

Experience with Git or similar version control concepts is a plus.

Practical notes

This is a full-time role based in the United States with remote work eligibility. The position reports to the Chief Legal Officer and requires collaboration across global markets. Travel may be required for strategic partner meetings or occasional in-person engagements. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this role.