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Targeted application · GitLab careers · 12 May 2026

Senior Solutions Architect · AI & Platforms SME

GitLab Inc. · NASDAQ:GTLB · All-Remote. Pre-sales architect on the global Solutions Architecture Center of Excellence, owning AI subject-matter expertise across strategic enterprise accounts. The role asks for an AI SME who can act as the technical CTO for multi-year DevSecOps transformations. This page is the case for a 27-year systems builder fitting that brief at senior IC calibration.

Company GitLab Inc. · NASDAQ:GTLB FY26 revenue US$955.2M (+26% YoY) · Crossed US$1B ARR Working model All-Remote (founded that way) Eligible locations Remote, Australia · Remote, Singapore Reports to Senior Director, Solutions Architecture Center of Excellence Apply via Greenhouse · cover letter explicitly invited
Calibration note

AI SME with shipped enterprise architecture, not slide-ware

The role wants an "AI subject matter expert" who has actually designed and implemented AI-powered solutions, not someone briefing on AI from the outside. Across 2024–2025 I architected the 7-layer Saputo DOT planning system with Anthropic's Claude as my daily engineering partner — 231 Power BI visuals, 155 DAX measures, multi-layer SAP ECC integration. Two decades earlier at Pacific Brands I unified six divisional ERPs into a single centralised engine with mandatory CEO sign-off governance across three divisions. The shape of multi-team, multi-year, executive-sponsored technical strategy work GitLab needs an SA to lead is what I have done for two decades.

One disclosure up front. The Saputo DOT system was not adopted; the AI-assisted personal-equipment build was the integrity issue I voluntarily disclosed to corporate security on exit. The architecture is the artefact; the disclosure is on record. Pacific Brands (2011–13) was the centralised system that was adopted. Both are evidence; the disclosure is the differentiator that lets an integrity-first AI company hire with confidence.

01Mandate vs Approach

five GitLab requirements · paired
GitLab needs
AI SME on a team of specialists. Own AI subject-matter expertise. Design or implement AI-powered solutions, advise on adoption, act as the AI SME for customers and internal teams.
What I bring
18 months of daily production use of Claude as engineering partner on the 7-layer DOT planning architecture (SAP ECC source, 231 visuals, 155 DAX). Plus a 70+ skill ecosystem codifying how I work with Claude on enterprise builds. Shipped, not slide-ware.
GitLab needs
Technical CTO for strategic accounts. Own multi-team, multi-year DevSecOps transformation initiatives. Lead value-stream and POV engagements end-to-end. Translate complex technology to executive business outcomes.
What I bring
Pacific Brands Workwear Group, 2011–13: group-level role, three management tiers above current, six divisional ERPs unified, branded dashboards per division, S&OP governance decks with mandatory CEO sign-off. The pattern of executive-sponsored technical strategy ownership is what I have done since 2011.
GitLab needs
Modern SDLC, CI/CD, DevSecOps practical background. Cloud architecture concepts. End-to-end software lifecycle thinking from planning through monitoring.
What I bring
Operating-systems lifecycle delivered end-to-end: source ingestion through KPI presentation across seven layers. Versioned skill files, build patterns documented, governance baked in. Adjacent muscle. The CI/CD-specific tooling vocabulary is a ramp I would name, not pretend away — the underlying SDLC discipline is the same.
GitLab needs
Reusable assets, reference architectures, working examples, internal enablement content. Scale impact across regions. Mentor other SAs. External thought leadership.
What I bring
robertmclark.dev is itself an AI-augmented build artefact. Plus the 70+ skill ecosystem — versioned, named, reproducible — exactly the "reusable assets" muscle the Center of Excellence is trying to scale. A pre-sales SA who arrives with a portfolio of working examples already published is unusual.
GitLab needs
Strong communication, executive presence, stakeholder management. Adapt the message from engineers through to executives. Customer advocate inside the company.
What I bring
Pacific Brands S&OP decks were CEO-signed, not informational. Twenty-seven years of translating operational complexity for non-technical sponsors. Saputo build was a one-person show inside a global company — every stakeholder layer from frontline planner up to GM had to be navigated, monthly.

02Why GitLab · why me

four angles
01 · ANGLE

AI SME with production proof

The role explicitly wants an SA who has designed or implemented AI-powered solutions. Two-thirds of competing applicants will be SAs who have used ChatGPT and read papers. I architected a 7-layer enterprise planning platform with Claude as my daily build partner across 2024–25. The work is the credential.

02 · ANGLE

All-remote native, AEST coverage

GitLab is the canonical remote-first company; the SA team works asynchronously across regions. I have worked remotely since 2019, hold the Warrnambool location as the standing constraint, and the role lists Remote Australia as the primary eligibility band. AEST gives the team APAC coverage that San Francisco and Singapore can't run alone.

03 · ANGLE

Builder's portfolio in a pre-sales seat

The Center of Excellence wants reusable assets, reference architectures, internal enablement content, thought leadership. Most pre-sales SAs build that on the job. I arrive with a 70+ skill ecosystem and robertmclark.dev — an AI-built site demonstrating exactly the output muscle the role wants scaled globally.

04 · ANGLE

Multi-year transformation experience at executive scale

"Act as the technical CTO" for strategic accounts driving multi-year DevSecOps transformation. Pacific Brands was three management tiers above where I sit today, six ERPs unified across three divisions, CEO sign-off governance. The pattern transfers cleanly into a pre-sales SA seat where the customer is the same shape Pacific Brands was.

03Skills match

role requirements · evidence · match grade
Requirement
Evidence
Match
AI SME · hands-on AI design / implementation
18 months daily Claude-as-engineering-partner across DOT layers 5–7, 70+ skill ecosystem, robertmclark.dev itself
Direct
Technical pre-sales / consulting / connect tech to business outcomes
Pacific Brands group S&OP governance, CEO sign-off; Saputo monthly executive review cycles for nine years
Adjacent
Modern SDLC, CI/CD, DevSecOps tooling
Version-controlled skill ecosystem, build-test-deploy loops with Claude, GitHub-native portfolio; CI/CD-specific tooling vocabulary is a ramp
Stretch
Cloud computing concepts & architectures
Cloudflare Workers production deployments, SAP ECC enterprise integration, multi-environment data architecture
Adjacent
Multi-team, multi-phase technical architecture design
7-layer DOT architecture, six-ERP Pacific Brands engine, full lifecycle source-to-presentation ownership
Direct
Leading technical workshops & POVs with diverse stakeholders
Pacific Brands branded S&OP decks for three CEOs; Saputo monthly governance reviews across operations through GM
Adjacent
Trusted-advisor stakeholder management engineers → execs
Twenty-seven years operating across the full enterprise stack; group-level executive comms muscle from 2011
Direct
GitLab platform depth (hands-on product knowledge)
Day-one ramp; existing Git workflow, enterprise platform pattern recognition; 27 years of closing platform-gap muscle
Stretch

04Build proof

two centralised systems · two decades apart
Crown jewel · Pacific Brands Workwear Group

Six-ERP centralised planning engine

2011–2013 · Group-level · VIC / NSW / NZ · CEO governance

Built solo as the single planning systems builder at Workwear Group level — three management tiers above where I sit today. Harvested data from six divisional ERPs, auto-generated supplier orders, produced branded dashboards per division and S&OP decks for the three divisional CEOs with mandatory sign-off governance.

The relevant point for Arcadian: this is the agency-grade brief, executed at scale, twenty years before the agency model named it. Six clients (the divisions) handled by one builder, with executive-grade communication and governance discipline. The pattern an Arcadian client would pay for, demonstrated.

6ERPs unified
3Divisions · CEO sign-off
3Regions VIC/NSW/NZ
1Builder
Recent build · Saputo Dairy Australia

DOT — 7-layer planning architecture

2016–2025 · Australian operation · SAP ECC · Power BI · Claude

Solo design and build of the Demand Operations Tower over nine years, on personal equipment. Seven integrated layers: source ingestion, staging, lookups, transformation, KPI calculation, presentation and governance. This is exactly the pattern Arcadian's Data Pipeline Development service sells — enterprise-grade architecture, not slide-grade.

Layers 5–7 (the most recent) were built with Anthropic's Claude as a genuine engineering partner. The system was not adopted at Saputo; the AI-assisted personal-equipment build was the integrity issue I voluntarily disclosed to corporate security on exit. The architecture is the artefact; the disclosure is on record.

970+Materials managed
231Power BI visuals
155DAX measures
2024Claude as partner

05If I land · my first 90 days

concrete plan · adjustable on day one
Days 1–30

Ramp · learn the platform · understand the team

  • One-on-ones with the Senior Director and the AI / AppSec / Monetisation SMEs — find the seam where I add the most value first
  • Hands-on GitLab platform ramp: GitLab Duo, Duo Agent, the agentic-AI surface area — work through customer-facing demos until they are reflexive
  • Shadow two live POV engagements end-to-end to learn the asynchronous SA rhythm and the Center of Excellence working model
  • Map my existing AI-augmented build patterns against current Center of Excellence reusable-assets backlog — find the first contribution
Days 31–60

Run a POV · publish a reusable asset

  • Take one strategic-account POV and run it end-to-end as the AI SME, with senior support — POV-to-decision in the standard cycle
  • Publish the first reusable asset to the Center of Excellence: a reference architecture or working example drawn from the engagement
  • Co-author one thought-leadership piece for the GitLab blog: "what AI-augmented build looks like in production" — drawing on DOT and the skill ecosystem
  • First APAC customer workshop fully owned: technical discovery → architecture sketch → executive-readout
Days 61–90

Compound · second engagement, mentor pattern

  • Second POV scoped using the pattern from the first — different vertical, same architecture muscle
  • Start mentoring one or two junior SAs on AI-augmented build methodology, drawing on the skill ecosystem as the structured curriculum
  • Field feedback into Product: at least one concrete AI-feature request supported by customer evidence from the POVs run
  • Quarterly review: POVs run, assets published, customer-evidence loop closed, mentoring pattern documented

06Risks I'd raise myself

honest framing · before the interview
Title gap · pre-sales SA experience
My twenty-seven years are in-house operating-systems building, not pre-sales SA work. Honest framing: the underlying skill stack — architecture design, customer/stakeholder management, technical communication, executive-readout discipline — is the same skill stack. The pre-sales commercial rhythm (POV scoping, deal-cycle ownership, technical win criteria) is a ramp I would flag, not pretend away. GitLab's posting explicitly invites candidates with transferable experience from adjacent domains.
GitLab product depth on day one
I have not shipped on the GitLab platform itself. Honest framing: I have built production systems on six different ERPs over twenty-seven years; closing platform-specific gaps fast is the muscle. The first thirty days are about ramping platform fluency to demo-confident. The architectural intuition that makes a customer trust a senior SA — pattern recognition across enterprise stacks — is already there.
Saputo exit narrative
The recent Saputo work — the 7-layer DOT planning architecture — was not adopted. The AI-assisted personal-equipment build was the integrity issue I voluntarily disclosed to corporate security on exit. The architecture is the artefact; the disclosure is on record. For an AI-positioned company that names safety and reliability as differentiators, the disclosure is itself a fit signal: I escalated my own situation rather than waiting to be discovered. Pacific Brands (2011–13) remains the comparable build that was adopted.

07Industry pulse

GitLab context · DevSecOps & AI dev signal
GitLab FY26 revenue $955M +26% YoY
GitLab ARR milestone $1B+ crossed in FY26
$1M+ ARR customers 155+ +26% YoY
GitLab FY26 free cash flow $220M +83% YoY
Global DevSecOps market 2026 ~$28B ~22% CAGR · MarketsAndMarkets
Enterprise AI coding adoption 81% using or piloting · Stack Overflow 2025
Fortune 100 on GitLab 50%+ per GitLab disclosure
Claude as engineering partner 18 mo DOT layers 5–7, skill ecosystem, this site
Builder-to-pre-sales pitch: 27-year systems builder with 18 months of Claude as engineering partner, all-remote since 2019, AEST timezone. The AI SME GitLab is looking for, with the architectural evidence to show.