Incident & Escalation Lead, Enterprise Customers

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. An overview of this role Support Engineering at GitLab believes that healthy teams deliver a healthy customer experience, and that command during a crisis should not fall to whoever happens to be senior and available. GitLab’s global Incident and Escalation Management (IM/EM) function coordinates critical incidents, complex multi-team engagements, and executive-level escalations for enterprise customers. As Escalation Manager, you will own complex, executive, and commercial escalations where customer trust and the relationship are at stake, alongside or independently of a technical issue. In this functional role, you will advocate for customers inside GitLab, coordinate teams toward resolution, and lead relationship repair after the event. What you’ll do Own complex, executive, and commercial escalations end-to-end, as defined in GitLab’s IM/EM engagement model. Advocate for customers internally and coordinate Engineering, Support, Product, Customer Success, and Sales toward resolution, tracking commitments and holding owning teams accountable to agreed dates and deliverables. Maintain a written, customer-facing resolution plan from engagement through confirmed resolution, updating it at each communication milestone. Coordinate with Incident Managers during concurrent technical incidents to maintain a single, coherent narrative for the customer. Own external escalation communications using GitLab’s approved templates and cadence, and represent GitLab in high-stakes customer conversations where clarity and ownership influence retention. Engage Sales, Customer Success, and executive stakeholders as needed, including executive-to-executive communication for Severity 1 and 2 events. Brief GitLab leadership with concise summaries that distinguish what is known, what is unknown, and next steps. Lead post-escalation reviews and relationship repair plans, contribute corrective actions with named owners and due dates to postmortems, and hand the relationship back to the account’s Customer Success Manager at resolution. Partner with the Head of IM/EM to develop playbooks, communication templates, and process improvements based on patterns from escalations. What you’ll bring Experience in enterprise technical support, customer success, or incident and escalation management at a business-to-business software-as-a-service or enterprise software company. A track record of owning complex, multi-stakeholder escalations end-to-end, including executive customer engagements and structured resolution or account plans. Executive-level written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical detail into plain-language updates for customers and GitLab leadership. The ability to coordinate Engineering, Support, Product, Customer Success, and Sales under pressure without formal authority over those teams. Calm, structured decision-making with incomplete information and the ability to provide a steadying presence in high-stress customer situations. Proficiency with support and coordination tools such as Zendesk, Salesforce, Slack, and PagerDuty, or equivalent platforms. Availability for on-call coverage supporting executive escalations as part of a globally distributed team. Nice to have: Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation or equivalent certification; customer-facing experience with GitLab, development, security, and operations (DevSecOps), continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), or cloud-native products; experience with formal escalation or incident command frameworks; or AI-assisted support tools for triage, sentiment analysis, or resolution drafting. About the team The Incident and Escalation Management function sits within Support Engineering in GitLab’s Enterprise Technology and AI (ETA) division. We operate a follow-the-sun model anchored in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific, providing year-round, 24-hour coverage for enterprise customers. Our Escalation Managers work globally rather than within a single region, partnering with Incident Managers, Communications Leads, and regional Support Engineering leadership. You will help shape our playbooks, templates, and standards as we scale. How GitLab supports full time employees Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being: Flexible Paid Time Off Team Member Resource Groups Equity Compensation and Employee Stock Purchase Plan Growth and Development Fund Parental Leave Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you are excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application. Country Hiring Guidelines: GitLab hires new team members in countries around the world. All of our roles are remote, however some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process. GitLab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. GitLab’s policies and practices relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression), national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, genetic information (including family medical history), discharge status from the military, protected veteran status (which includes disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans), or any other basis protected by law. GitLab will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.