An overview of this roleSupport Engineering at GitLab believes that healthy teams deliver a healthy customer experience, and that command during a crisis shouldn't fall to whoever happens to be senior and available. GitLab's global Incident & Escalation Management (IM/EM) function coordinates critical incidents, complex multi-team engagements, and executive-level escalations for enterprise customers. As Escalation Manager, you'll 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'll 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's known, what's 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 teamThe Incident & Escalation Management function sits within Support Engineering in GitLab's Enterprise Technology & 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'll 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 & 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're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application.
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