Commercial Legal Counsel

An overview of this role

As Legal Counsel, Commercial, you’ll help GitLab move faster by making commercial contracting clear, consistent, and scalable. Reporting to the Director, Legal, Commercial, you’ll partner with internal stakeholders and external counterparties to negotiate and review complex agreements, assess legal risk, and translate regional legal requirements into practical templates, policies, and processes. You’ll be a trusted advisor to teams across GitLab, helping them reach business goals while protecting GitLab’s interests, and you’ll contribute to the growth of the commercial legal function through mentorship, playbooks, and training. In your first year, you’ll take ownership of strategic contracting workstreams, strengthen how we manage risk in high-priority transactions (including technology and artificial intelligence-related agreements), and improve the systems and documentation that support efficient deal execution.

This role also supports GitLab’s Public Sector go-to-market strategy. You’ll advise on federal, state, local, and education (SLED) transactions, applying fluency in government procurement frameworks, compliance requirements, and data handling obligations to help GitLab close and structure public sector deals efficiently and in compliance with applicable law.

What you’ll do

• Negotiate, draft, and review complex commercial and technology agreements, including partnership, services, consulting, marketing, licensing, data privacy, and artificial intelligence related contracts.
• Independently manage strategic and high-priority matters tied to large-value and material transactions, partnering directly with internal stakeholders and external parties.
• Advise Sales and cross-functional GitLab teams on contract structure, risk allocation, and practical negotiation strategies that support business goals while protecting GitLab’s interests.
• Perform risk analysis on contractual documents and recommend mitigation options, including escalation paths and alternative terms.
• Benchmark, develop, and maintain contract templates, playbooks, policies, and supporting documentation, incorporating regional legal requirements and feedback from stakeholders.
• Monitor legal and regulatory changes, assess impact on GitLab’s contracting practices, and propose clear, actionable updates to templates and processes.
• Create and deliver training for contract managers and Sales team members to improve con