Sr. Manager, Solutions Architect - SMB

An overview of this role

As the Senior Manager, Solutions Architecture - at GitLab, you'll manage a distributed team of Solutions Architects working with customers across the India region. In this player-coach role, you'll guide technical strategy across complex sales motions while also stepping directly into high-impact opportunities to help your team secure technical wins and build customer confidence in GitLab's platform approach. At GitLab, we work at the intersection of technical sales strategy, team development, and operational scale, and you'll help translate customer requirements into clear business outcomes.

You'll partner closely with regional go-to-market counterparts and cross-functional teams including Sales, Channel, Marketing, Sales Enablement, Product Management, and the global Solutions Architecture team. In our all-remote environment, you'll help shape how we grow the Solutions Architecture organization across the region by building strong operating rhythms, strengthening executive relationships, and creating the conditions for your team to do their best work. This role suits someone who combines technical depth, strong judgment, and a hands-on approach to winning business and scaling teams.

Some of the types of projects you'll work on:

• Running technical evaluations, executive workshops, demos, and proof-of-concept engagements that help customers map GitLab's DevSecOps platform to their business goals
• Building regional operating practices that improve team execution, strengthen cross-functional alignment, and scale the impact of Solutions Architects across Asia and India

What you’ll do

• Manage a team of intermediate and senior Solutions Architects across India, setting clear direction and enabling high-quality execution across the region.
• Act as a player-coach by partnering directly on strategic opportunities, building executive relationships, and coaching your team through complex sales cycles to help secure the technical win.
• Guide regional strategy for technical evaluations, workshops, demonstrations, and proof-of-concept engagements, ensuring customer needs are translated into meaningful technical and business outcomes.
• Work cross-functionally with global Solutions Architecture, Sales, Channel, Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Product Management to align on priorities and execute against regional goals.
• Manage dotted-line relationships with Channel Solutions Architects and subject matter experts, driving accountability, collaboration, and alignment around common goals.
• Maintain strong operational discipline across workload planning, resource allocation, headcount planning, opportunity forecasting, and field execution.
• Define and track key performance indicators for the team, communicating progress, risks, and priorities clearly to your team, peers, and senior stakeholders.
• Hire, develop, and retain high-performing Solutions Architects while strengthening team capability, encouraging innovation, and building a scalable regional organization for future growth.

What you’ll bring

• Experience managing technical teams in software or technology sales, pre-sales, consulting, or a related environment, with direct exposure to the India market. Strong background in solution architecture or comparable practical experience, with the ability to relate technical depth to customer business value and apply transferable experience from adjacent domains while learning GitLab and related tools.
• Proven success developing, mentoring, and scaling Solutions Architecture practices or similar customer-facing technical organizations in growing businesses.
• Strong communication and technical presentation skills, with the ability to engage effectively across cultures and with both technical and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated business acumen and sound judgment, balancing technical excellence with commercial outcomes and regional priorities.
• Track record of influencing cross-functional stakeholders and building strong partnerships across Sales, Channel, Marketing, Enablement, Product, and other senior stakeholder groups.
• Experience building inclusive, high-performing teams and creating clear, accountable operating practices in a distributed or remote environment.
• Ability to travel at least 25%