
Product Design Manager, Platforms, Plan, and Analytics
GitLab · Spain
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $240,000 / year
- Spain
Job highlights
- Manage remote designers for complex products.
- Drive UX strategy for Plan & Analytics stages.
- Integrate AI into software development lifecycle.
- Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams.
- Hire, grow, and retain world-class designers.
About the role
Product Design Manager, Plan and Analytics
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.
The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: 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. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.
An Overview Of This Role
GitLab is looking for a Product Design Manager to join the Plan & Analytics stage. As a design leader, you own the delivery of UX commitments, are always looking to improve productivity, and are responsible for the user experience in the product. While you are credible as a designer and know the details of what product designers work on, your time is spent hiring a world-class team and putting them in the best position to succeed.
This is an incredibly exciting time to join the Plan & Analytics stages. Working in GitLab's Plan space sits at the most human and strategic layer of the software development lifecycle — where ideas, priorities, and intentions are formed — making it the perfect frontier to explore how AI can augment not just execution, but thinking itself. As AI accelerates the speed at which code is written and shipped, the Plan space becomes even more critical, because the bottleneck is rapidly shifting from "how fast can we build?" to "how clearly can we define what to build and why?" This creates a rare opportunity to reimagine how teams collaborate, how requirements evolve, and how AI can transform a traditionally manual, document-heavy process into a dynamic, intelligent system that connects strategy directly to delivery.
You'll be working closely with the Product Management and Engineering teams to execute on the product roadmap and priorities.
Some Examples Of Our Projects
- Work Items
- Saved Views
- Software Factory
What You’ll Do
- Proactively identify large, strategic UX opportunities that span both inside your areas and across the product.
- Work with other product design managers, staff, and principal product designers to drive cross-product initiatives through awareness and prioritization.
- Identify strategic user research initiatives that span multiple stage groups (and possibly the entire product), and work with other product design/research managers to organize research efforts.
- Be a frequent and active participant in milestones by reviewing UX deliverables (such as research and designs) that your team creates, and provide feedback to ensure high-quality output.
- Communicate the value of UX to cross-functional GitLab team members and work with them to leverage the product development flow.
- Help the product teams of areas you support to prioritize UX initiatives including Deferred UX, triage and resolution of UX bugs, and overall usability improvements to the product.
- Lead UX Scorecard initiatives in order to consistently measure the experience of your product areas and show improvements over time.
- Contribute to product direction conversations, with emphasis on leading the experience vision for your product areas.
- Hire, grow and retain a world-class team of Designers.
What You’ll Bring
- Experience managing a group of designers remotely, who work on complex products.
- Deep experience building AI experience for the software development lifecycle.
- Deep experience designing for large-scale enterprise platforms.
- Experience defining/executing on the high-level strategy (the why) and creating design deliverables (the how) based on research.
- Experience driving organizational change with cross-functional stakeholders, including Product Management and Engineering.
- Solid visual awareness with understanding of basic design principles and accessibility.
- You share our values, and work in accordance with those values.
- You possess leadership qualities needed to thrive at Gitlab.
- Ability to use GitLab.
About The Team
You will work closely with three designers. You will collaborate with the Group Product Manager, Engineering Director and UX Researcher to improve team communication and maintain excitement about the opportunities ahead. You can learn more about what our teams are working on by visiting our direction page: Plan
Key skills/competency
- Product Design Management
- UX Strategy
- AI Experience Design
- Enterprise Platform Design
- Cross-functional Collaboration
- User Research Management
- Team Leadership
- Product Roadmap Execution
- Design System Thinking
- Agile Development Processes
Skills & topics
- Product Design Management
- UX Strategy
- AI Design
- Enterprise Platforms
- Remote Management
- Software Development Lifecycle
- Product Management
- Engineering
- User Experience
- Design Leadership
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in remote design management and AI for SDLC.
- Showcase platform design expertise: Emphasize experience with large-scale enterprise platforms.
- Demonstrate leadership: Provide examples of driving organizational change and team growth.
- Understand GitLab values: Align your application with GitLab's mission and culture.
- Prepare for remote collaboration: Be ready to discuss your experience working effectively in a remote environment.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is the primary focus of the Product Design Manager role at GitLab?
- The Product Design Manager for Plan & Analytics at GitLab focuses on owning UX delivery, improving productivity, and managing a world-class team of designers to ensure exceptional user experiences within the Plan and Analytics stages of the software development lifecycle.
- What specific experience is crucial for this Product Design Manager position at GitLab?
- Key experience includes managing remote design teams working on complex products, deep expertise in AI for the software development lifecycle, and a strong background in designing for large-scale enterprise platforms.
- How does GitLab incorporate AI into its product and team workflows?
- GitLab embraces AI as a core productivity multiplier, expecting all team members to integrate AI into their daily workflows to enhance efficiency, innovation, and impact, particularly within the Plan space to augment thinking and decision-making.
- What is the collaboration dynamic like for the Product Design Manager at GitLab?
- The Product Design Manager collaborates closely with Group Product Managers, Engineering Directors, and UX Researchers, working with three designers to improve team communication and drive excitement about product opportunities.
- Can candidates with varying levels of experience apply for the Product Design Manager role?
- Yes, GitLab welcomes candidates with varying levels of experience and encourages applications even if not every qualification is met. Recruiters will assess applications to determine suitability.
- What are the key responsibilities of a Product Design Manager at GitLab regarding UX strategy?
- Responsibilities include proactively identifying strategic UX opportunities, organizing user research initiatives, leading UX Scorecard assessments, and contributing to product direction with a focus on the experience vision for their product areas.
- How does GitLab handle salary for the Product Design Manager role?
- The salary range for this role in the United States is $170,000—$240,000 USD. This range is determined by factors like experience, skills, equity, market data, and location, and does not include bonuses, equity, or benefits.
- What kind of projects might a Product Design Manager oversee at GitLab?
- Projects could include 'Work Items', 'Saved Views', and 'Software Factory', focusing on strategic UX opportunities that span across product areas and drive cross-product initiatives.