Director, Global People Operations & Compliance - GitLab

About GitLab

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.

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.

Overview of the Role

You will lead the Global People Operations and Compliance team, delivering consistent, scalable, tech-enabled experiences to a global workforce at every stage of the team member lifecycle. You are a strategic, hands-on leader who executes well and influences across functions. You will set the multi-year vision for innovation, AI, and team capability, turning strategy into measurable results.

What You'll Do

• Define and deliver a multi-year People Operations and Compliance roadmap tied to business priorities, leveraging AI and emerging technologies to elevate the team member experience.
• Build and lead a program to standardize, simplify, and automate manual workflows across the team member lifecycle (onboarding, data management, offboarding, etc.) with clear ownership, documented standards, and measurable SLAs.
• Establish operating models, SLAs, and performance metrics to drive quality and operational efficiency.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders including Compensation, Legal, Procurement, People Technology, Talent Acquisition, People Business Partners, Payroll, IT, and Internal Audit.
• Lead the People Operations team in managing the case management platform from intake to resolution, setting service standards, improving response times, and designing scalable escalation paths.
• Lead and develop a high-performing global team by cultivating skills in process design, data fluency, automation, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Oversee global mobility processes, serving as the escalation point for complex relocation matters while partnering with Legal to ensure compliance.
• Maintain accountability for global employment compliance and risk exposure, setting strategy, managing audit outcomes, and supervising compliance execution.
• Own administration for PEO partners and lead the people operations setup for new entities and global expansion initiatives.

What You'll Bring

Core Experience

• 10+ years of HR/People Operations experience, including 5+ years leading global teams.
• Proven track record of building and scaling people operations functions in complex, multi-regional global organizations.
• Working knowledge of global employment compliance, including direct experience with works councils or employee representative bodies.
• Ability to bridge high-level executive vision with hands-on detail and process debugging.
• Strong judgment, stakeholder management, and communication skills, with comfort navigating ambiguity.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging AI and automation to streamline operations.
• Strong attention to detail with an emphasis on data accuracy.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in a high-growth global technology or SaaS company, preferably public.
• Experience transforming People Operations at scale across various company stages.
• Deep familiarity with Workday optimization, data governance, workflow automation, and self-service administration.
• Familiarity with Greenhouse ATS infrastructure and HRIS integrations.
• Hands-on experience implementing HR case management platforms, knowledge management, and service catalogs.