Solutions Architect - SLED (East)

About the Role

As a SLED Solutions Architect, you'll be a trusted technical advisor to State, Local, and Education customers in every state east of the Mississippi River: state agencies, counties, cities, special districts, community colleges, and public, private, and research universities. These organizations deliver services residents and students rely on every day, often with lean IT teams, aging systems, fixed fiscal-year budgets, and growing cybersecurity threats.

You'll show them how GitLab's DevSecOps platform and AI capabilities, including the GitLab Duo Agent Platform, help them modernize legacy applications, protect sensitive resident and student data, meet state and sector compliance requirements, and do more with the staff they have. You'll own the technical evaluation and validation stages of the sales cycle, guide customers through proofs of concept and value, and translate platform capabilities into outcomes that agency leaders, CIOs, CISOs, and procurement officers can defend in a budget request or an RFP evaluation.

*Note: The territory covers all states east of the Mississippi River. The candidate must reside in the Northeast part of the United States. This role requires up to 50% travel.*

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, giving customers a defensible basis for budget requests and clear evidence of ROI.
• 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.

What You'll Bring

• Background in technical pre-sales, consulting, or IT roles serving state agencies, local governments, or public, private, and research universities, guiding 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 and advise senior stakeholders on tradeoffs and options.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, including presenting to both technical teams and non-technical leaders.
• Openness to learning, seeking feedback, and building new skills.

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.