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.

Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software. Claim based on GitLab data. Fortune 100 refers to the top 20% ranked companies in the 2025 Fortune 500 list, published in June 2025.

Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of GitLab. As the Corporate Development Director, you'll help influence how GitLab invests to win: what we build, what we buy, where we partner, and what we should not pursue. This role sits within the Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships team, reporting to the VP, Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships.

This role straddles strategy and M&A; engagements. You'll lead research that frames GitLab's options: mapping the markets in and around our AI-powered DevSecOps platform, testing where we have a right to win, and turning that into clear recommendations for the executive team.

It looks like sharper strategic choices: a well-reasoned point of view on our priority markets, investment theses that product and executive leaders rely on, acquisitions that speed up the roadmap when buying is the right answer, and an educated no when it isn't. You'll own the wider market perspective rather than individual product categories, and work with the team's Analyst on the research behind it.

What you'll do Strategy and research Own the wider market view. Research the broader market GitLab competes in, beyond specific product categories: competitive dynamics, AI-native entrants, technology shifts and where value is moving.



Collaborate with the team's Analyst on the research and turn the findings into a clear point of view on where GitLab should play.

Work with Product and Engineering leaders to define the problems worth solving, the capabilities GitLab needs, and what it would cost in time and money to get there on our own. Maintain market maps and a current read on GitLab's competitors: their strategy, product direction, positioning, pricing, and M&A; and funding activity. Produce competitor analyses that show where we lead, where we're exposed and how rivals are likely to move.

Flag shifts by competitors, hyperscalers and AI labs that change our options, and bring the implications to Product and the executive team. Define where GitLab should not play. Identify adjacencies that dilute focus and markets where the economics or competition work against us.

Build, buy or partner Run the build, buy, partner analysis. For each strategic gap, compare the options side by side on speed, cost, risk, control and strategic fit, and bring a clear recommendation. Feed company strategy and planning.

Bring an outside-in view of the market and the inorganic options available into annual and long-range planning. Validate target fit against GitLab's our target profile, product roadmap and other criteria, and build the acquisition rationale and business case. Develop valuation, commercial integrity assessment, impact on GitLab's business and provide negotiations assistance to the VP and the executive team.

Run pre-LOI validation and diligence across Product, Engineering, Security, Finance, Legal and People, and communicate findings clearly. Drive deal documents with Legal. Prepare NDAs, LOIs and purchase agreements with GitLab Legal and outside counsel.

Build the external network. 8+ years across corporate development, corporate strategy, strategy consulting or technology investing, including 5+ years leading acquisitions end to end in enterprise software. You form a point of view from incomplete information, test it against data, and change your mind when the evidence says so. Market research depth.

Skilled in market sizing, competitive analysis and landscape mapping, and in turning research into a recommendation, not a report. Skilled in valuation,



financial modeling, deal structuring, negotiation and integration planning, with experience across varied consideration structures. A working understanding of software development, DevSecOps and the AI landscape, enough to hold substantive conversations with product and engineering leaders about roadmaps and architecture.

You build trust across Product, Engineering, Finance and Legal and move decisions forward across functions. You own the strategic view and the recommendation, and partner closely with the team's Analyst on research and analysis. You value the all remote lifestyle and share our values.

About The Team The Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships team helps GitLab decide how to grow beyond what we build on our own.

We own inorganic strategy: acquisitions, strategic partnerships with hyperscalers and AI labs, and the research that tells us which to pursue and which to pass on. We work across Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal and the executive group. We set direction and do the detailed work ourselves, with a high degree of ownership and transparency in a fully remote, asynchronous environment.

How GitLab Supports Full-Time Employees Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being Growth and Development Fund 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. 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. See also GitLab's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know during the recruiting process.

📌 Development Director / Director / Development Manager (Madrid)
🏢 Gitlab
📍 Madrid