Buyer Personas

Maintained by:

Buyer personas represent the people who serve as the main buyers in an organization or the champions within an enterprise that drive the buying conversation and coordinate various teams to make a purchase. We've updated our approach to include persona groups, in addition to specific roles or titles within a group, based on the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework.

IT Orgchart

CIO
App Dev
Security
Platform
Compliance
Release
PMO
Back Office

Also see the three tiers on our pricing page.

Enterprise IT roles we sell to

While personas describe ideal targets, roles are the real people in job titles you will encounter while selling. Understanding the challenges faced by each role, along with what they care most about, is helpful to deliver the right value proposition to the right person. It will help you know: a) if they are even someone who may have an interest in GitLab (don't waste time), b) what questions to ask to learn more and qualify the lead, c) what value prop they'll want to hear that could get them to a demo, discussion, or POC.

See the Enterprise IT Roles page for more details about who we sell to and how to approach them.

Writing for all personas

When writing content, always remember to use the GitLab voice regardless of the persona.
Never alienate other personas. You can appeal to a buyer without buzzword bingo.
Look at who uses a channel most (twitter & docs: user, webinar linkedin: buyer) when shared (website) guide them /features for users /solutions for buyers.

Overall recommendations

Develop content and build ‘persona-lized’ buyer’s journeys for more efficient targeting
Rethink messaging to leverage most effective drivers by persona
Consider alternative content sites (Reddit, Quora, Medium) to target specific personas
Help champions sell their ideas internally with the resources they say they need (ROI / case studies / real world benefits / hard data / Proof of Concepts)
Explore opportunities to provide tech education / ‘mentoring’ to personas with less than 10 years experience (due to lack of mid-level personnel peers / mentors and 16+ years set aging out)

Comparing the personas

Comparison motivations and challenges

Tech Exec Tristan

techexectristan

Job To Be Done:
- Lead the technology vision, strategy, innovation, and execution for the organization
Summary:
- I’m really motivated by leading organizational change
- I’m an Influencer and Initiator/Identifier of need for tech purchases but I am very often the decision-maker
- My biggest challenges are silo’d teams and workflows along with the need to increase the speed of development as well as scaling efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
Potential Titles:
- CTO / CINO / CDO / Founder / Owner / VP
Reports to:
- CEO / Board
Job Responsibilities:
- Develop goals and strategies to ensure the IT department runs smoothly and effectively
- Direct and establish IT-related projects
- Monitor technology sector changes to discover ways the company can improve and develop
- Supervise company networks and computer systems to ensure optimal performance
- Plan and direct implementation of new IT systems
Job is Measured by:
- Results / Speed
Goals & Objectives:
- Helping IT to play a more strategic role in achieving business objectives
Motivated by:
- Contributing to solving real problems
- Leading organizational change
- Having autonomy / independence
Biggest Challenges:
- Silo’d teams and workflows
- The need to increase the speed of development
- Scaling efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
- Slow digital transformation initiatives
- Current processes that do not scale
- Hiring and training staff with relevant skill sets (skills gap)
- Retention of people who do not want to work on uninteresting platforms
- High cost of downtime
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Events & Meetups / Conference presos / Case studies / Webinars
- Secondary: Announcements & Press releases / Websites / Blog posts / Email updates & Newsletters / Whitepapers
- Tertiary: Podcasts
- Internal Influencers: Data Consultants / Marketing / C-Suite / Engineering Team / Tech Leads / Developers / Peer Tech Execs
Purchasing Roles:
1. Influencer
2. Decision-maker
3. Initiator/Identifier of need

App Dev Avery

appdevavery

Job To Be Done:
- Drive application and product development activities
Summary:
- I want to choose the technology/tools I use to do my work
- I’m mostly an Influencer and Researcher for tech purchases (but sometimes I am the Identifier of a need)
- My biggest challenges are increasing the speed of development and dealing with team silos and workflows while constantly switching between multiple point solutions
Potential Titles:
- Application Development Executive (VP, etc) / Application Development Director / Application Development Manager / Product Development / Product Management (May also include: Application Developer, Software Developer, Software Engineer)
Reports to:
- Director or VP App Development
Job Responsibilities:
- Lead a team of full-stack developers
- Manage the iteration cycle, ensure capacity, and participate in both high-level and detailed design for new product capabilities and improvements
- Collaborate with architects and developers on specifications, designs, standards, code reviews, and test capabilities
- Scale efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
- Establish practices, processes, and platforms, working horizontally across Digital to govern and operationalize new technologies to enable their broad adoption
Job is Measured by:
- Productivity / Speed
Goals & Objectives:
- Drive standardization of the production environment
- Reduce complexity
- Optimize management of applications
- Introduce innovative technologies that provide new business capabilities to reduce the technology total cost of ownership and create a competitive advantage
Motivated by:
- Contributing to solving real problems
- Career growth/learning (and the ability to fail/learn in a safe environment)
- Choosing the technology/tools I use to do my work
Biggest Challenges:
- The need to increase speed of development
- Silo’d teams and workflows
- Transition to DevOps is challenging for certain legacy workloads and environments
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Analyst reports / Conference presos / Tech videos & demos / Webinars / eBooks
- Secondary: Video stories from similar orgs / Events & Meetups / Podcasts / Infographics / Websites
- Tertiary: Social Media / Emails & Newsletters
- Internal Influencers: Senior members in the group / execs in engineering and PLM orgs / CTO / Head of DevOps / Architects and developer advocates
Purchasing Role:
1. Influencer
2. Initiator / Identifier of Need and Researcher
3. Decision-Maker for renewals (but not likely for first order)

InfoSec Shiloh

infosecshiloh

Job To Be Done:
- Secure and protect the organization against cyber risks
Summary:
- Protecting my organization from a constant barrage of global attacks from bad actors drives my work. (And on a personal level, career growth/learning–and the ability to fail/learn in a safe environment–is my biggest motivator)
- I’m an Influencer and Researcher for tech purchases but I am very often the decision-maker
- My biggest challenges are dealing with team silos and workflows and the lack of a strong security culture with the risk that entails
Potential Titles:
- CISO / Deputy CISO / Director or VP CyberSecurity / Cloud Security Architect / Information Security Operations Manager / IT Security Manager / Sr. Manager, DevSecOps
Reports to:
- CTO, CIO, or SVP Engineering
Job Responsibilities:
- Monitor ongoing operations and actively hunt for and detect adversaries
- Build and maintain a security-aware culture
- Drive adoption and optimization of cyber tool sets for a streamlined user experience – implement appropriate controls while identifying opportunity for automation across the stack
- Support migration to the public cloud, partnering with technology to implement modern security standards, specifically related to app development and delivery
Job is Measured by:
- Number of Incidents / Time to Respond & Mitigate
Goals & Objectives:
- Create and own the long term security vision and strategy that inspires confidence
- Minimize the impact of cyber events and return the organization to normal status quickly
Motivated by:
- The need to constantly battle attacks by global bad actors
- Career growth/learning (and the ability to fail/learn in a safe environment)
- Contributing to solving real problems
- Leading organizational change
Biggest Challenges: -
- Silo’d teams and workflows
- Lack of a strong security culture and the risk that entails
- The disjointed developer experience
- Tool and process sprawl
- Securing the software supply chain
- Continuing skills shortage
- Lack of security culture prioritization (poor password hygiene leading to credential stuffing)
- Securing the hybrid workforce with zero-trust
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Analyst reports / Conference presos / Research reports / Technical videos & demos / Webinars
- Secondary: Blog posts / eBooks / Infographics / Social Media / Video stories from similar organizations
- Tertiary: Podcasts
- Internal Influencers: C-Suite / Network Administrator / Directors, VPs and senior engineers & analysts / Evaluators / security management teams / CISO / IT SME / User Testing
Purchasing Role:
1. Influencer
2. Researcher
3. Decision-Maker

Platform Perry

platformperry

Job To Be Done:
- Drive digital transformation, cloud migration / IT modernization, and DevSecOps transformation efforts
Summary:
- Having autonomy and independence is my biggest motivator
- While I’m an Influencer, Researcher, and Initiator, I am a strong Decision-Maker—my purchases lead ARR and First Orders for GitLab
- My biggest challenges are transitioning to DevOps due to legacy workloads and environments, silo’d teams and workflows, and scaling efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
Potential Titles:
- Architect/Manager/Director/VP of: Infrastructure Engineering, Platform, Engineering, Operations, IT Operations, CloudOps, Architecture, Systems
Reports to:
- CIO or VP, Platform / Infrastructure
Job Responsibilities:
- Design and coordinate implementation of automated solutions to replace or enhance manual processes
- Collect requirements, researches, and analyzes alternatives, and make recommendations for IT infrastructure solutions
- Ensure that new IT infrastructure solutions are designed and deployed to meet functional, security and technical requirements
Job is Measured by:
- Efficiency / Speed
Goals & Objectives:
- Break down artificial barriers between development and operations teams
- Improve development velocity via highly integrated, more versatile teams
- Shift responsibilities like security left, earlier into the development process
- Automate pipelines from inception to production
- Ensure platform stability
- Create “golden paths” to make developer teams productive while maintaining standards–sees need for "guardrails"
- Support development teams, make them productive and happy
- Enable Progressive Delivery and modern CI/CD patterns
- Achieve built in platform security
- Define and manage Service Level Objectives
Motivated by:
- Contributing to solving real problems
- Career growth/learning (and the ability to fail/learn in a safe environment)
- Having autonomy/independence
Biggest Challenges:
- Transition to DevOps is challenging for certain legacy workloads and environments
- Silo’d teams and workflows
- Scaling efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Technical videos & demos / Conference presos /Analyst reports /Blog posts / Case Studies
- Secondary: Peer review sites / eBooks / Websites / Events & Meetups / Podcasts
- Tertiary: Social media / Infographics
- Internal Influencers: User & Quality Testing / PMs / Solutions & Tech Architects / Platform Engineers / C-Suite / Heads of Engineering & Data Science / DevOps Engineers / Innovation Team / IT Director / Head of Development & Sr. Developers / Peers / Partners
Purchasing Role:
1. Influencer
2. Initiator / Identifier of Need & Researcher
3. Decison-Maker (this group is the lead ARR and First Order purchaser of GitLab)

Compliance Cooper

compliancecooper

Job To Be Done:
- Maintain the company's legal and ethical integrity
Summary:
- I’m really motivated by contributing to a greater purpose or mission
- I’m very often a Decision-Maker but I also am an Influencer, and Initiator
- My biggest challenges are tool and process sprawl and anything manual / lack of automation
Potential Titles:
- Compliance Officer / Director or Manager: Risk & Regulatory, Audit, or Ethics, Governance
Reports to:
- CEO / COO / CFO / CLO / Head of Compliance
Job Responsibilities:
- Policy planning, enforcement, and addressing compliance issues as they arise
- Create and review regulatory compliance documentation
- Coordinate creation, review, and implementation of policies and procedures resulting from new laws and regulations
- Apply and interpret audit and compliance requirements for various departments
Job is Measured by:
- Efficiency / Incidents that do NOT happen
Goals & Objectives:
- Assess and understand all risks (including risk of failing to meet regulatory compliance obligations) and then develop policies, procedures, and internal controls to keep risk at tolerable levels
Motivated by:
- Contributing to solving real problems
- Contributing to a greater purpose/ mission
- Career growth/learning (and the ability to fail/learn in a safe environment)
Biggest Challenges:
- Tool and process sprawl
- Anything manual / lack of automation
- Silo’d teams and workflows
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Announcements & Press releases /Conference presos / Analyst reports / Case studies / Events & Meetups
- Secondary: Email updates & newsletters / References & testimonials from customers / Blog posts / Peer review sites / Webinars
- Tertiary: Social media / Podcasts
- Internal Influencers: Tech management / C-Suite / Peers
Purchasing Role:
1. Decision-maker
2. Influencer
3. Initiator/ Identifier of need

Release Rory

releaserory

Job To Be Done:
- Ensure delivery milestones are met on time and with quality
Summary:
- I’m really motivated by being more efficient and effective
- I’m an Influencer and Researcher for tech purchases but I am very often the decision-maker
- My biggest challenges are tool and process sprawl and the volume of required integrations (and associated maintenance). My job also restricts tooling choices (and I don’t like the tools I am allowed to use)
Potential Titles:
- Manager/Director: Release and Change Management / Test, QA / Engagement / Scrum Master
Reports to:
- Head of Delivery
Job Responsibilities:
- Coordinates and manages the entire SDLC
- Ensures teams can work together well to complete projects
- Identifies functional requirements for each department to ensure the completion of SW development
Job is Measured by:
- Meeting Delivery Milestones (Speed) / Quality
Goals & Objectives:
- Establishing a successful delivery process by setting up procedural guidelines
- Managing customer expectations by evaluating feedback and instituting necessary changes
- Ensuring that operations are cost-effective and stay within budget
- Acting as liaison officer between different teams to build partnerships and develop solutions
Motivated by:
- Being more efficient / effective
- Leading organizational change
Biggest Challenges:
- Tool and process sprawl
- My job restricts tooling choices (and I don’t like the tools I am allowed to use)
- Volume of required integrations (and associated maintenance)
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Announcements & Press releases / Blog posts / Analyst reports / Technical videos & demos / Social media
- Secondary: eBooks / Case studies / Conference presos
- Internal Influencers: Infrastructure Team
Purchasing Role:
1. Influencer
2. Researcher
3. Decision-maker

Program Management Payton

pmpayton

Job To Be Done:
- Plan, govern, and oversee the delivery of new capabilities
Summary:
- I’m really motivated by being more effective and efficient
- I’m both an Influencer and Decision-maker
- My biggest challenges are that the transition to DevOps is challenging for certain legacy workloads and environments, the need to increase the speed of development, and the disjointed developer experience
Potential Titles:
- PMO Lead / Agile Coach or Consultant / IT Program Manager / Senior Project Manager
Reports to:
- Director of Program Mgmt.
Job Responsibilities:
- Daily program management throughout the program life cycle
- Define the program governance (controls)
- Plan the overall program and monitoring the progress
- Manage the program’s budget
- Manage risks and issues and taking corrective measurements
- Coordinate the projects and their interdependencies
- Manage and utilizing resources across projects
- Manage stakeholder comms
Job is Measured by:
- Productivity / Efficiency / ROI / Profit Margin / Timeliness
Goals & Objectives:
- Increase productivity
- Ensure milestones and delivery
- Stay on time and on budget
Motivated by:
- Being more efficient/effective
- Contributing to a greater purpose/mission
- Contributing to solving real problems
Biggest Challenges:
- Transition to DevOps is challenging for certain legacy workloads and environments
- The need to increase the speed of development
- The disjointed developer experience
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Announcements & Press releases / Analyst reports / Blog posts / Conference presos / Video stories from similar organizations
- Secondary: eBooks / Websites / Whitepapers
- Tertiary: (Minimally) Webinars / Podcasts
- Internal Influencers: Devops Consultants / Developers / System Administrators / DBAs / PMO / Security Product Management
Purchasing Role:
1. Influencer
2. Decision-maker

Back Office Blake

backofficeblake

Job To Be Done:
- Manage, coordinate, and facilitate operational, (and often cross-functional) non-development related business activities
Summary:
- I’m really motivated by leading organizational change
- I represent functions like Marketing, Finance, Legal, HR, and Operations and I’m both an Influencer and Decision-maker
- My biggest challenges are:
  - Tool and process sprawl
  - Anything manual / lack of automation
  - The need to increase the speed of development
  - Silo’d teams and workflows
  - Scaling efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
  - Not being able to find/hire/retain the right skill sets
Potential Titles:
- CFO, VP Finance / CLO / COO / CMO, VP Mktg / CHRO, VP HR / Head of Procurement
Reports to:
- CEO / President
Job Responsibilities:
Could include:
- Managing the procurement approval process
- LegalOps
- Everything as Code (Marketing / Training / etc.)
- Onboarding (employees / customers / partners)
- Project Management
- Anything that requires SSOT functionality
Job is Measured by:
- Efficiency / Productivity / (KPIs vary by Division)
Goals & Objectives:
- Manage business operations effectively / efficiently
Motivated by:
- Contributing to solving real problems
- Career growth/learning (and the ability to fail/learn in a safe environment)
- Leading organizational change
Biggest Challenges: -
- Tool and process sprawl
- Anything manual / lack of automation
- The need to increase the speed of development
- Silo’d teams and workflows
- Scaling efficiencies and new ways of working across multiple projects and environments
- Not being able to find/hire/retain the right skill sets
Gains Information by:
- Primary: Analyst reports / Case studies / Blog posts / References & testimonials from customers / Websites /Email updates / newsletters
- Secondary: Announcements & Press releases / Peer review sites / Conference presos
- Internal Influencers: Within team / C-level / Software development lead
Purchasing Role:
1. Influencer
2. Decision-maker

Content Buyers Use for Tech Research and Decision-Making

Analyst report: Paid resource that provides insights into major business and IT trends and technologies (Gartner, Forrester, IDC, Red Monk, etc.).
Announcement/Press release: Official statement to the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release.
Blog post: Entry/article written on a blog usually including content in the form of text, photos, infographics, or videos.
Case study: Detailed study of a specific subject in its real-world context focused on a person, group, event, or organization.
Conference presentation: Oral & visual talk or in-depth demonstration communicating technical subject matter to attendees.
eBook: Book composed in or converted to digital format for display on a computer screen or handheld device.
Email update/newsletter: Periodically sent email that informs audience of the latest news, tips, or updates relating to products or services (generally, newsletter is informative, while email sales/marketing focused).
Event/Meetup: Organized in-person or virtual activity or gathering for people and communities of similar interests, hobbies, and professions. (May be organized via the Meetup social media platform.)
Infographic: Visual image such as a chart or diagram used to represent information or data.
Peer review site: Collection of reviews providing a steady stream of authentic customer feedback that IT professionals use to make tech purchasing decisions.
Podcast: Digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer/mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.
Reference/testimonial from customer: Person/company that is willing to share positive feedback or story about a products/services or overall customer experience at-large.
Research report: Publication reporting on the findings of a research project or alternatively scientific observations on or about a subject. (Often published by tech thought leaders like Accenture, Deloitte, etc.)
Social media: Internet-based form of communication. Social media platforms allow users to have conversations, share information and create web content. (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, Instagram)
Technical video/demo: Highly customized, deep-dive demonstration of a digital product, often presented to the buyer's technical team.
Video story from similar organization: Recorded talk about how a company's product or service has helped another customer solve a related problem.
Webinar: Online event hosted by an organization/company and broadcast to a select group of individuals through their computers via the Internet.
(Product) Website: Page on a vendor’s website describing a particular product/service and including specific specs and features, information about the manufacturer and brand, etc. .
Whitepaper: Report/guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

Enablement Artifacts

Slides
Video 1
Video 2 - updates
Feedback Issue
Slack channel: #buyer-personas

Enablement Sessions

Product: 2022-11-01 Recording
All Marketing: 2022-11-10 730 pm ET / 1230 am UTC Recording
Sales Strategy: Scheduled for 2022-11-21 1130 am ET / 430 pm UTC Recording
Channel & Alliances: Scheduled for 2022-12-06 1130 am ET /430 pm UTC Recording
UX: Scheduled for 2022-11-29 1130 am ET /430 pm UTC Recording
Customer Success: Scheduled for 2022-11-30 12 pm ET / 5 pm UTC Recording
Sales: Rollout at SKO Feb 2023
Office Hours:
- 2022-11-15 11 am ET / 4 pm UTC Notes Recording
- Scheduled for 2022-12-20 11 am ET / 4 pm UTC Notes Recording
- Scheduled for 2023-01-17 11 am ET / 4 pm UTC Notes Recording
- Scheduled for 2023-02-21 11 am ET / 4 pm UTC Notes Recording
- Scheduled for 2023-03-21 11 am ET / 4 pm UTC Notes Recording
- Scheduled for 2023-04-18 11 am ET / 4 pm UTC Notes Recording

Deprecated Buyer Videos

Note: for continuity we've historically used these buyer persona descriptions. Consider them deprecated, as the above Buyer Personas are more complete.

Director DevOps video, Director DevOps slide deck or Director of IT
VP IT video, VP IT Slide Deck or VP of Engineering
Chief Architect Video, Chief Architect slide deck or CIO
VP Application Development (Persona info from the Just Commit campaign) video, VP Application Development slide deck
Chief Information Security Officer or Director of Security (may fund Ultimate upgrade for security capabilities)