Principal, CX Strategy

An overview of this role

As a Principal, Customer Experience Strategy, you'll be a strategic partner to GitLab's Customer Experience (CX) organization, helping shape how we drive customer health, retention, expansion, and the effectiveness of our Customer Success Architect, Customer Success Manager, and Customer Success Engineer teams. You'll report to the Director of CX Strategy and use data, business planning, and structured problem solving to turn complex customer and performance data into clear, actionable strategies. In your first year, you'll lead annual and quarterly planning for CX. You'll build and evolve coverage and segmentation models, and you'll create executive-ready reporting and insights that guide how we invest, scale, and align our go-to-market motion around the customer journey. You'll work cross-functionally with CX leadership, Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, Finance, and Product to improve systems, processes, and metrics. This work reduces friction across touchpoints and supports a customer-first, insight-driven organization.

What you'll do

• Develop and execute Customer Experience strategies by partnering with CX leadership to shape business plans and coverage models that improve customer outcomes and resource allocation
• Lead annual planning for the Customer Experience organization, including headcount forecasting, investment proposals, and business case development to support growth and effectiveness
• Identify and drive opportunities to improve Customer Success efficiency, scaling operations, aligning resources, and enabling productivity across Customer Success Architect, Customer Success Manager, and Customer Success Engineer teams
• Analyze customer lifecycle performance, segmentation, and coverage models using BI tools, SQL, and spreadsheets to generate actionable recommendations and insights
• Build, maintain, and improve executive reporting on key Customer Success metrics, delivering clear narratives and data visualizations that inform leadership decisions
• Drive quarterly business reviews and planning cycles with Customer Success leaders, providing analytical support, strategic guidance, and follow-through on action items
• Collaborate with Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, Finance, and Product teams to design and implement systems enhancements, process improvements, and scalable operating models
• Create, refine, and present high-quality models, dashboards, and presentations that translate complex data into clear strategies for stakeholders at all levels

What you'll bring

• Experience in Customer Success operations, strategy, revenue operations, or strategy and analytics within B2B SaaS environments
• Background developing and executing strategic initiatives that improve customer outcomes, organizational effectiveness, or operational efficiency
• Experience leading annual planning activities such as headcount forecasting, investment modeling, and business case development
• Proficiency in business intelligence tools (for example, Tableau, Sisense, Looker), SQL, and advanced spreadsheets for building models, reports, and presentations
• Strong working knowledge of Salesforce reporting and analytics, including building and interpreting dashboards and performance metrics
• Ability to analyze customer segmentation, coverage models, and lifecycle performance to recommend resource allocation and deployment strategies
• Skill in presenting complex analysis and strategic recommendations to senior leaders, with clear written and verbal communication tailored to different audiences
• Ability to influence without direct authority, manage cross-functional projects from concept to completion, and apply creative problem solving. Candidates with transferable experience in related fields such as consulting or business strategy are encouraged to apply

About the team

The Customer Experience Strategy team at GitLab is a small but high-impact partner to our broader Customer Experience (CX) organization. Together, we steer the end-to-end customer journey from initial awareness and purchase through adoption, expansion, and advocacy. We work across Customer Success Architects, Customer Success Managers, and Customer Success Engineers to align strategy, data, and operations. We also collaborate asynchronously with CX leadership and go-to-market partners in multiple regions. We focus on building and evolving CX frameworks like customer journey maps, voice of customer programs, segmentation and coverage models, and CX analytics. This work helps us reduce friction across touchpoints, improve customer satisfaction and retention, and scale a truly customer-first culture and operating model.