Lead Legal Counsel, Corporate

An overview of this role

As Lead Legal Counsel, Corporate, you'll own securities, public company reporting, and corporate governance work for GitLab, a growing public technology company. You'll join the Legal & Corporate Affairs (LACA) team as a senior individual contributor, reporting to the Senior Director, Associate General Counsel, Corporate & Compliance.

You'll bring a strong securities law foundation and a broad corporate perspective to a small team. Your work will span quarterly reporting and earnings, the annual proxy statement and stockholders meeting, board and committee matters, equity plans, and subsidiary governance. You'll also support mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and other strategic initiatives.

You'll work closely with Accounting, Corporate Development, Finance, Investor Relations, People, Product, Stock Administration, Tax, and Treasury. You'll translate complex legal issues into clear recommendations, build trust across functions, and balance legal risk with business objectives. 

What You’ll Do  

• Own securities and public company reporting matters, working with internal stakeholders and external auditors on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, quarterly reports, earnings releases, the annual proxy statement, investor presentations, and other public disclosures.
• Advise on corporate governance, including board and committee processes, the annual stockholders meeting, corporate approvals, equity plan matters, executive compensation, and related compliance requirements.
• Provide legal guidance on complex entity matters across jurisdictions, including formation, maintenance, reorganizations, intercompany agreements, and wind-downs.
• Support M&A and other strategic transactions, contributing to diligence, documentation, approvals, signing, closing, and post-closing integration.
• Engage and manage outside counsel across jurisdictions, coordinating work and ensuring practical, high-quality, and cost-effective advice.
• Identify legal and business risks, present clear options to senior stakeholders, and monitor legal developments to keep policies, processes, and controls current.
• Build and improve playbooks, checklists, templates, and workflows for recurring corporate legal work. Train junior legal team members and cross-functional partners to use these resources.

What You’ll Bring 

• 6+ years of demonstrated relevant legal experience, including law firm experience advising US-listed public companies on securities law, corporate governance, and public company reporting. Prior in-house experience is a plus.
• A Juris Doctor (JD) degree and active admission to a US state bar.
• The ability to independently manage complex legal matters and cross-functional projects, prioritize competing needs, and drive work to completion with limited direction.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to explain technical legal issues to non-lawyers and senior leaders and build trusted working relationships.
• The ability to investigate unfamiliar legal questions, weigh risks against business objectives, and turn recommendations into action.
• Experience improving legal processes, templates, policies, or other scalable resources.
• The ability to collaborate in a remote, globally distributed team across time zones and cultures, and willingness to use GitLab in your day-to-day work.
• Helpful but not required: in-house work at a public software-as-a-service (SaaS), software, or open core company; M&A; cross-border corporate matters; outside counsel management; or legal technology that helps scale legal work.

About the team

The Corporate & Compliance team supports principled corporate governance and GitLab's culture of compliance. We work with leaders and subject matter experts across LACA and the broader company to provide practical, timely legal guidance.

LACA is a globally distributed team that supports GitLab's growth through legal expertise, business partnership, and continuous process improvement. We work transparently, collaborate across functions and time zones, and use GitLab's own tools and AI-enabled workflows to make legal support more efficient and accessible.

How GitLab will support you

• Benefits to support your health, finances, and well-being
• Flexible Paid Time Off 
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Parental leave 
• Home office support

Please note that we welcome interest from candidates with varying levels of experience; many successful candidates do not meet every single requirement. Additionally, studies have shown that people from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a job unless they meet every single qualification. If you're excited about this role, please apply and allow our recruiters to assess your application.