Product Management - Leadership

This job family represents all Managers in the Product Management department.

This job family represents all Managers in the Product Management department. They are responsible for managing, directly or indirectly GitLab team members performing in the role of Product Manager. These roles are responsible for managing and building teams which focus on specific specialties as part of GitLab’s product hierarchy (sometimes encompassing entire stages or a section).

References

Responsibilities

Make sure you have a great product team (recruit and hire, coach and mentor, promote proactively, identify underperformance)
Work on the vision with the Product Leadership and CEO; and communicate this vision internally and externally
Distill the overall vision into a compelling roadmap
Make sure the vision advances in every release and communicate this
Communicate our vision though demo’s, conference speaking, blogging, and interviews
Work closely with Product Marketing, Sales, Engineering, etc.
Support direct reports in their career plans at GitLab and beyond

Requirements

Ability to use GitLab
Experience hiring teams in high growth companies
Experience in DevOps
Experience with solutions from the product category, groups or DevOps stages you will be responsible for
Technical background or clear understanding of developer products; familiarity with Git, Continuous Integration, Containers, Kubernetes, and Project Management software a plus
You are living wherever you want and are excited about the all remote lifestyle
You share our values, and work in accordance with those values
Leadership at GitLab

Levels

Group Manager, Product (GMP)

This role typically manages 2-4 Product Managers, and reports either to a Director of Product, a Senior Director of Product Management or the VP of Product Management.

Group Manager, Product (GMP) - Job Grade

The Group Manager, Product is a grade 9.

Group Manager, Product (GMP) - Responsibilities

Team responsibilities

Coach Product Managers through their responsibilities
Ensure PMs receive regular CDF feedback and, if desired, Career Coaching
Ensure that Product Managers participate in Validation and Build track activities while following our product principles so that our Product Performance indicators are met
Enable product managers to make the most effective decisions when prioritizing R&D investment in their product groups so that our upcoming releases contain relevant enhancements for our customers, users, prospects and us.
Convene a set of stable counterparts for your assigned Product Hierarchy and Use Cases to ensure R&D and GTM KPIs are met
Join customer and partner visits that spawn ideas for new features
Ensure PMs develop an understanding of the market for their categories, including ensuring that the DevOps tools and category directions relevant to their markets are up to date
Keep relevant /direction pages up to date as our high level roadmap
Prioritize, build and assess business cases for new or existing opportunities in your group that have no investment
Understand deeply and synthesize the market, competition, and upcoming solutions in the space their team is responsible for.
Review release post announcements to ensure they focus on user problems and jobs-to-be-done
Own driving connections between the groups their PMs drive to ensure a single-application user experience.
Demonstrate leadership as expected of Managers across GitLab.
Find opportunities where teams need to collaborate with each other and help them make those decisions that are optimal for the company even if they maybe sub-optimal in the short term for particular groups.

Please note: If the Group Manager has less than 4 direct reports or is a first-time manager, some individual contributor responsibilities may be expected to be maintained.

Group Manager, Product (GMP) - Requirements

Requirements are outlined in the Product Management Career Development Framework

Group Manager, Product (GMP) - Career Ladder

The next step in the Group Manager, Product is to move to Director of Product.

Group Manager, Product (GMP) - Specialties

Verify

Are responsible for managing the team of product managers covering the Verify stage groups. Leading the Verify direction is a high impact position. Works with your team to ensure our industry-leading CI continues to be a critical entry-point to our single DevOps platform. Work cross functionally as an expert and invest in your team of high caliber product managers to make sure our R&D investment in Verify is as effective as possible in fulfilling our mission to enable everyone to contribute.

Verify - Runner

The GMP for Verify:Runner is responsible for supporting our Runner product groups functional management and vision. Leading the direction as an individual contributor for the categories of Runner Core and Runner Fleet while supporting the Product Manager over Runner SaaS, is an high visibility and mission-critical role. You will be working across two product groups to accelerate our Verify stage direction growth and influence our SaaS Platforms direction via the implementation of our Automated Software Delivery solution. Investing in your team to curate Product Management excellence to effectively enable our position of being the One DevOps Platform.

Enablement

Responsible for the Geo, Global Search, Memory, and Database groups. These groups ensure GitLab can meet customer business continuity requirements, is performant at all scales, and enables users to find the content they are looking for in our single platform.

Requirements

Demonstrated understanding of software systems, distributed systems a plus
Previous experience with self-managed products and their lifecycle operations
Strong communications skills and ability to work cross-functionally, as these groups affect many parts of GitLab

Data Science

ModelOps

Responsible for leading the team of PMs who manage the ModelOps stage groups. This stage leader sets the vision and direction for how to empower GitLab users to leverage data science as part of their DevOps program—both by enabling users to build and run data science workloads, as well as by enriching existing GitLab product functionality with capabilities powered by machine learning. This individual will lead an expansion of GitLab’s core personas to address the needs of data science teams and will work cross-functionality with other GitLab stages in leveraging machine learning to deepen our core differentiators. This individual will be responsible for developing new revenue-generating products as well as enhancing existing products used by millions of users across the world.

Requirements

Knowledge of how to operationalize the lifecycle management of data science workloads, including data ingestion and ETL, feature engineering, development environment setup, CI/CD integration, model versioning, testing, and production deployment
Familiarity with the technical differences and operational requirements of various AI disciplines (e.g. supervised and unsupervised machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, neural networks, etc.)
Deep understanding of the production pain points of data science products
Prior experience with data science products and use cases

Sec

Secure

Responsible for leading the team of PMs who manage the Secure stage groups. This stage leader sets the vision and direction for how to enable GitLab users to minimize their security risk with continuous identification and prioritization of high-impact vulnerabilities and weaknesses across every stage of the DevOps process. This scope includes identifying, prioritizing, and managing security research requirements across the entire Sec section and working with GitLab’s Vulnerability Research team to prioritize those requirements. The Secure GMP works hand in hand with the Govern stage leader to ensure that their teams, together, are providing a holistic and world-class user experience across all of GitLab’s security & compliance offerings.

Requirements

Prior experience building or operating Application Security Testing (AST) products (e.g., SCA, SAST, DAST, etc.) products
Strong ability to understand the technical details underpinning security testing and software engineering concepts
Strong ability to define and maintain alignment on product vision and strategy
Excellent communication skills and ability to drive cross-functional execution

Govern

Responsible for leading the team of PMs who manage the Govern stage groups. This stage leader sets the vision and direction for how to enable GitLab users with an effective, scalable, and lovable security and compliance solution. This individual also maintains and champions GitLab’s Software Supply Chain Security (SSCS) direction and coordinates execution of the SSCS roadmap across all GitLab stages. The Govern GMP works hand in hand with the Secure stage leader to ensure that their teams, together, are providing a holistic and word-class user experience across all of GitLab’s security & compliance offerings.

Requirements

Prior experience building operating security or compliance products
Deep knowledge of challenges in Software Supply Chain Security and how it intersects with each phase of the DevOps process
Strong ability to define and maintain alignment on product vision and strategy
Excellent communication skills and ability to drive cross-functional execution

Group Manager, Product (GMP) - Hiring Process

Candidates for this position can generally expect the hiring process to follow the order below. Note that as candidates indicate preference or aptitude for one or more specialties, the hiring process will be adjusted to suit. Please keep in mind that candidates can be declined from the position at any stage of the process.

Selected candidates will be invited to schedule a 30 minute screening call with one of our Technical Recruiters
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 60 minute first interview with a Director of Product
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute peer interview with an Engineering Manager
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute deep dive interview with a member of the Product team
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute direct report panel interview with members of the Product team
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute fifth interview with a VP of Product or above

Director of Product Management

This role typically manages 4-6 direct reports, including Product Managers and Group Managers of Product Management, and reports to either a Senior Director of Product Management or the VP of Product Management.

Director of Product Management - Job Grade

The Director, Product Management is a grade 10.

Director of Product Management - Responsibilities

Team responsibility

Perform all non-IC responsibilities of a Group Manager of Product
Contribute to the job family, CDF and hiring content for the Product function
Help the team to avoid shipping our org chart.
- Within the area of ownership, ensure that team creates product experiences that solve the job-to-be-done.
- Across your peer group - work to identify areas to partner with peers to create single app experiences that solve the job-to-be-done.
Ensure adequate Career Coaching is available to all Product Managers in your organization
Maintain a comprehensive understanding of GitLab’s overall, and Section specific Product Direction to spot, propose and complete appropriate global optimizations of our R&D investment
Analyze GTM metrics and propose and complete improvements to our R&D and GTM interactions including pricing, product positioning and process
Maintain priorities for and champion acquisitions that impact our product maturity
Perform product walk-throughs regularly to highlight opportunities for improved workflows that span groups, stages and section.
Exemplify, coach others on, and contribute to GitLab values
Drive cross-functional, high impact business workstreams outside of the direct area of ownership
Demonstrate leadership as expected of Directors across GitLab
Contribute strategic improvements to how the Product Leadership Team operates and shape the priorities of the Product Management function

Director of Product Management - Requirements

Requirements for the role are outlined as part of the Product Career Development Framework.

Prior experience managing product management managers (e.g., Group Manager, Product roles) preferred however not required.

Director of Product Management - Career Ladder

The next step for a Director of Product Management is to move to Senior Director of Product Management.

Director of Product Management - Specialties

CI

The Director of Product Management, CI is the PM DRI for the CI Section and reports to the VP, Product Management - CI/CD, Enablement, & SaaS Platforms. The CI Section includes the Verify and Package Stages

Enablement

The Director of Product Management, SaaS Platforms is the PM DRI for the Enablement Section and reports to the VP, Product Management - CI/CD, Enablement, & SaaS Platforms. The Enablement Section includes the Systems and Data Store Stages.

SaaS Platforms

The Director of Product Management, SaaS Platforms is the PM DRI for the SaaS Platforms Section and reports to the VP, Product Management - CI/CD, Enablement, & SaaS Platforms. The SaaS Platforms Section includes the SaaS Platforms Stage.

Fulfilment

The Director of Product Management, SaaS Platforms is the PM DRI for the Fulfillment Section, which owns delivering a flexible and powerful billing and licensing system. Has the opportunity to work cross-functionally to ensure the billing and licensing system meets our evolving business needs and delivers a world class customer experience.

Requirements

Familiarity with industry leading subscription management and CRM tools (e.g. Zuora, Salesforce)
Strong communications skills and ability to work cross-functionally, especially with GTM counterparts

Director of Product Management - Hiring Process

Selected candidates will be invited to schedule a 30 minute screening call with one of our Technical Recruiters
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 60 minute first interview with the VP of Product Management
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute second peer interview with a Product Director
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute third interview with another member of the Product team
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute fourth peer interview with an Engineering Director
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute fifth interview with a Product or Engineering Director or above
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute Deep Dive interview with a Product Director
Finally, candidates may be asked to schedule a 50 minute final interview with our CEO

Senior Director of Product Management

This role typically manages 4-6 direct reports, including Product Managers, Group Managers of Product Management, and Directors of Product Management, and reports to the VP of Product Management.

Senior Director of Product Management - Job Grade

The Senior Director, Product Management is a grade 11.

Senior Director of Product Management - Requirements

Effective at hiring, coaching, and leading a team of 10+ that typically spans numerous stages, and is composed of Directors, Group Managers, and IC’s
Demonstrated ability to manage and coach product validation in brand new market areas
Skilled at curating excellent cross-stage customer experiences
Experience and skill managing products at all stages of the lifecycle (incubation, growth, maturity, decline), and balancing priorities and investment accordingly

Senior Director of Product Management - Responsibilities

Visible strategic leader across the company
Skilled at big stage communications
Capable of coaching team members on excellent communication skills

Senior Director of Product Management - Career Ladder

The next step in the Product Management Leadership job family is to move to the VP of Product Management job family.

Senior Director of Product Management - Hiring Process

Selected candidates will be invited to schedule a 30 minute screening call with one of our Technical Recruiters
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 60 minute first interview with the VP of Product Management
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute second peer interview with a Product Director
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute third interview with another member of the Product team
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute fourth peer interview with an Engineering Director
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute fifth interview with a Product or Engineering Director or above
Next, candidates will be invited to schedule a 45 minute Deep Dive interview with a Product Director
Finally, candidates may be asked to schedule a 50 minute final interview with our CEO

Performance Indicators

Product Leadership is responsible for building the capacity and capability of their team and the groups they support to achieve:

Their relevant Product Performance Indicators
Our global Product KPIs
Job satisfaction of the team members who report to them (as measured by annual employee engagement survey)
Hiring versus plan and new hire location factor
IACV attained by assigned use case as designated in Why GitLab of opportunity Command Plans (Dashboard).

In addition, some roles have role-specific activities and performance indicators.

Group Manager

Activities

Completion of competitive analysis of product adjacencies
Delivery of cross-stage adoption Opportunity Canvases, such as Why SCM users do not adopt CI?

Performance Indicators

1 per quarter adjacencies analysis for Stage OR
1 per quarter cross-stage opportunity canvas

About GitLab

GitLab Inc. is a company based on the GitLab open-source project. GitLab is a community project to which over 2,200 people worldwide have contributed. We are an active participant in this community, trying to serve its needs and lead by example. We have one vision: everyone can contribute to all digital content, and our mission is to change all creative work from read-only to read-write so that everyone can contribute.

We value results, transparency, sharing, freedom, efficiency, self-learning, frugality, collaboration, directness, kindness, diversity, inclusion and belonging, boring solutions, and quirkiness. If these values match your personality, work ethic, and personal goals, we encourage you to visit our primer to learn more. Open source is our culture, our way of life, our story, and what makes us truly unique.

Top 10 Reasons to Work for GitLab:

Mission: Everyone can contribute
Results: Fast growth, ambitious vision
Flexible Work Hours: Plan your day so you are there for other people & have time for personal interests
Transparency: Over 2,000 webpages in GitLab handbook, GitLab Unfiltered YouTube channel
Iteration: Empower people to be effective & have an impact, Merge Request rate, We dogfood our own product, Directly responsible individuals
Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging: A focus on gender parity, Team Member Resource Groups, other initiatives
Collaboration: Kindness, saying thanks, intentionally organize informal communication, no ego
Total Rewards: Competitive market rates for compensation, Equity compensation, global benefits (inclusive of office equipment)
Work/Life Harmony: Flexible workday, Family and Friends days
Remote Done Right: One of the world's largest all-remote companies, prolific inventor of remote best practices

See our culture page for more!

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Last modified January 29, 2024: fix: Fix links to the "Working Groups" directory and the "Organizational Structure" page. (c556f941)

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