Senior Customer Communications Manager

Overview of the role: 

We are seeking a Senior Customer Communications Manager to take ownership of customer-facing communication efforts and ensure our customers receive timely, clear, and valuable updates on product developments, incidents, and key company initiatives. This role requires close collaboration with many teams, including Customer Success, Product, Marketing, Engineering, and Legal, to ensure messaging is accurate, consistent, and aligned with our brand tone and corporate goals. The Communications Manager will play a critical role in maintaining a high level of transparency and trust with our customer base.

The successful candidate will be a skilled communicator, capable of managing both proactive and reactive communications, while continuously seeking ways to enhance the customer experience.

What You’ll Do

• Product and Feature Updates: Partner with the Product Marketing team to develop and implement communication plans to keep customers informed about product updates, new features, and enhancements. Ensure messaging is clear, relevant, and accessible to different customer segments.
• Incident Communications: Lead global customer communications during service interruptions, outages, or other critical incidents, recognizing that incidents may occur outside of normal work hours. Collaborate closely with internal teams to ensure real-time updates and post-incident summaries are delivered effectively, thoughtfully, and in a timely manner, regardless of time zone. Play a key role in maintaining playbooks for incident communication to ensure rapid deployment when needed.
• Customer Engagement: Collaborate with the Customer Success, Marketing, and Legal teams to distribute customer newsletters, updates, and engagement materials, tailored to different customer journeys and segments.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Serve as a key liaison between customer-facing teams and internal departments (including Product, Marketing, Engineering, and Legal) to ensure all customer communications are accurate, timely, and aligned with the latest product and service developments.
• Content Creation: Draft, review, and edit customer-facing communications, including emails, in-app messages, blog posts, and knowledge base articles, ensuring alignment with GitLab’s tone and style.
• Feedback and Continuous Improvement: Regularly gather feedback from customers and internal stakeholders to refine communication strategies and ensure relevance and clarity.
• Crisis Management: Execute established communication plans for potential service disruptions or crises, owning communications to current customers. 
• Metrics and Performance: Track the effectiveness of communication efforts using key metrics such as open rates, engagement levels, and customer feedback. Present insights and recommendations to improve future communication strategies.

What You’ll Bring 

• Experience in customer communications, customer success, or a related role within a high-growth SaaS or tech environment.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical information into user-friendly content.
• Experience with incident management communications and crisis response.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps, or related technologies is advantageous.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across different departments and manage multiple priorities.
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to manage projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency with communication platforms and tools such as email marketing software, CRM systems, or in-app messaging platforms.

How GitLab will support you

The GitLab Field Enablement team exists to inspire our field and partners to achieve high levels of success through the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills and behaviors - at scale - that improve productivity and accelerate customer outcomes & growth. We have a lot of fun doing this!

• Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
• All remote, asynchronous work environment
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and development budget
• Parental leave
• Home office support

Thanks to our Transparency value, you can learn more about our Field Enablement strategy and programs on our Field Enablement Team Handbook page.

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're 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.  

Privacy Policy: Please review our Recruitment Privacy Policy. Your privacy is important to us.

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.