Solutions Architect - SLED (East)

Overview

As a SLED Solutions Architect, you will be a trusted technical advisor to State, Local, and Education customers in every state east of the Mississippi River, showing them how GitLab's DevSecOps platform and AI capabilities help modernize legacy applications, protect sensitive data, meet compliance requirements, and do more with limited staff.

What you'll do

• Engage SLED customers onsite and remotely, from state capitals to university campuses, with tailored demos, technical presentations, and hands-on workshops that tie GitLab to their mission.
• Partner with SLED account executives to shape account strategies that align with each customer's fiscal year budget cycle, legislative appropriations, IT modernization plans, and grant or federal pass through funding.
• Own the technical evaluation process, including proof of concept (POC) and proof of value (POV) design and delivery, and provide technical responses for RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, and security questionnaires.
• Support purchases made through cooperative purchasing agreements and statewide contract vehicles by working with channel and reseller partners.
• Guide customers through state and sector security requirements, such as GovRAMP and NIST frameworks, and show how GitLab's built in security, auditability, and deployment options reduce compliance burden.
• Help agencies and institutions modernize legacy and mainframe applications, such as unemployment insurance, tax, DMV, benefits, and student information systems, using GitLab and AI-assisted development.
• Advise customers on adopting AI responsibly, including the GitLab Duo Agent Platform, in line with state AI policies, governance boards, and data privacy requirements.
• Lead the creation of Customer Success Plans that capture technical success criteria and handoff details, ensuring a smooth path to deployment and adoption.
• Work alongside Account Executives to build data driven business cases that quantify delivery bottlenecks and support budget requests and return on investment.
• Build relationships with CIOs, CISOs, agency directors, enterprise architects, faculty, research computing leaders, and procurement officers.
• Collaborate with systems integrators and state IT shared-services organizations to scale GitLab adoption across multiple agencies, local governments, or campuses.
• Serve as the SLED customer advocate internally, channeling feedback on procurement, compliance, and deployment needs to Product, Sales, and Marketing.
• Stay current on GitLab and related technologies, and create reusable SLED demos, reference architectures, and assets for customers and partners.

What you'll need

• Background in technical pre-sales, consulting, or IT roles serving state agencies, local governments, or public, private, and research universities, where you guided customers through evaluations and solution design.
• Working knowledge of how SLED organizations buy technology: RFP and RFI cycles, cooperative purchasing agreements, statewide contracts, fiscal-year budgeting, and the role of resellers and systems integrators.
• Hands-on experience using GitLab and familiarity with modern software development and operations practices, such as CI/CD, DevSecOps, and automation.
• Experience with cloud, hybrid, and self-managed deployments in regulated environments, including government cloud regions, and an understanding of data residency and sovereignty concerns.
• Familiarity with security and compliance frameworks common in SLED, such as GovRAMP and NIST SP 800-53.
• Ability to connect technical solutions to mission outcomes, such as resident service delivery, cyber resilience, cost avoidance, and workforce efficiency, and to advise senior stakeholders on tradeoffs and options.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, including presenting to both technical teams and non-technical leaders such as agency heads, procurement officers, and university administrators.
• Openness to learning, seeking feedback, and building new skills, including familiarity with GitLab's Solutions Architect handbook and related resources.

Nice to have

• Prior experience working in or for state or local government IT, or a university IT or research computing organization.
• Experience with legacy or mainframe modernization programs.
• Familiarity with AI governance practices in the public sector, such as AI use-case inventories, acceptable-use policies, and risk assessments.

Details

• Territory covers all states east of the Mississippi River.
• The candidate must reside in the Northeast part of the United States.
• Requires up to 50% travel.
• Role is remote, United States.