CSE Team Member Onboarding

Onboarding as a Customer Success Engineer (CSE) is a guided, blended journey. It combines a self-paced, role-based learning path, live virtual skills sessions, the GitLab Revenue Academy with an in-person regional graduation event, and a practical ramp from shadowing calls to leading them. This page explains what to expect and how your manager and buddy support you.

The formal learning and the practical ramp run in parallel, not one after the other. You are not expected to finish every module before your first shadow call, but you are expected to have enough depth at each stage to be useful in it.

Learning modules

Module 1: CSE at GitLab and call shadowing

• Demonstrate understanding of GitLab basics and the DevSecOps lifecycle.
• Express the Customer Success vision.
• Describe the CSE role and how it fits in the wider Customer Experience organisation.
• Set up a GitLab demo environment. You will use it in every technical call and lab during your ramp.
• Certification: GitLab Certified Git Associate.

Module 2: CSE deep dive

• Describe a CSE’s rhythm of business.
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of CI/CD and apply it to customer scenarios. CI/CD is the most common topic in Pooled requests and central to onboarding, so complete this module before taking requests on your own.
• Complete a role-play exercise.
• Certification: GitLab Certified CI/CD Associate.

Module 3: Technical deep dive

• Explain best practices for customer onboarding.
• Examine GitLab reference architectures. They come up constantly with self-managed customers who are behind on upgrades, hitting performance issues or scaling their deployment.
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of GitLab agile project management.
• Complete a role-play exercise.
• Certification: GitLab Certified Project Management Associate.

Module 4: CSE best practices

• Build a thorough understanding of DevSecOps adoption and GitLab security. Security is the main differentiator for Ultimate customers and the foundation of the GitLab Duo conversation.
• Identify how CSE engagements are requested and tracked.
• Differentiate the rules of engagement between the CSE and the rest of the account team (AE, SA, CSM, RM and others).
• Use the customer success platform for health monitoring and engagement tracking.
• Complete a role-play exercise.
• Certification: GitLab Certified Security Specialist.
• Complete this module before your first health assessment cycle.

Module 5: CSE onboarding conclusion

• Explain the CSE escalation process.
• Identify the recommended CSE meeting workflow.
• Discuss your customer readiness with your manager.
• Complete the Revenue Academy prework and the role-based learning path.

GitLab University also offers training and certification for the GitLab Duo Agent Platform. Given how central it is to adoption conversations, it is worth completing during your first months.

Live skills sessions

As part of Revenue Academy, CSEs attend four role-based live virtual sessions. Each is 90 minutes and they run on a rolling monthly rotation. Session 0 is shared by all Customer Experience new hires.

Milestones and roadmap

The shadow and ramp framework

No amount of reading prepares you for running a customer call. The shadow and ramp framework gives you a structured path from observing to leading, with feedback at every stage.

The timing is a guide, not a deadline. You move to the next stage when your buddy and manager agree you are ready. If you need more time in a stage, ask for it.

• Observer. Shadowing is not passive. Before the call, ask your buddy what type of call it is, what the customer’s context is, and what a good outcome looks like. During the call, notice the structure as well as the content: how your buddy opens, moves between topics, handles questions they cannot answer, and closes with clear next steps.
• Co-lead. Your buddy tells the customer up front that you will cover a topic. Pick something you can prepare thoroughly, aim for 10 to 15 minutes, and brief your buddy beforehand so they can step in cleanly if needed.
• Reverse shadow. This is the most important stage. Your buddy is visible on the invite but says nothing unless there is a factual error or a genuine emergency. Prepare exactly as you would for a solo call.
• Solo lead. Spot checks continue throughout your time on the team; every CSE has their calls reviewed from time to time. If a solo call goes sideways, debrief it anyway and bring it to your next one-to-one.

A rough guide to how the modules and the ramp line up:

Post-call debrief template

Use it after every shadow session, whatever the stage. Fill it in straight after the call, while the detail is fresh. It takes five minutes.

1. What was the customer’s primary goal coming into the call? Not what was on the agenda: what did they actually want?
2. What technique or approach did you observe, or use, that you want to adopt? Be specific.
3. What would you have done differently, and why? From stage 2 onwards, focus on your own segment or lead.
4. What follow-up was committed to, and who owns it? If ownership is unclear, that is a learning point in itself.

How feedback is structured

After co-lead and reverse shadow sessions, feedback covers four areas. Knowing them in advance means you can assess yourself first.

1. Value articulation: did you connect GitLab to the customer’s stated goals and business context?
2. Technical accuracy: were your recommendations correct, current and practical, and within CSE scope? When you were unsure, did you commit to follow up rather than guess?
3. Relationship and risk management: did you read the room, notice when something the customer said was worth probing, and manage the pace of the call?
4. Follow-through: were the next steps clear, owned and realistic, and did you set expectations for the follow-up email?

Webinars

The same progression applies to webinars, with one change: you start as co-pilot, working the chat and Q&A while another CSE presents, usually from Module 2. Your first solo presentation typically comes after your first successful reverse shadow, around Module 4. See webinars and hands-on labs.

What your manager does

Month 1

• Schedule recurring one-to-ones and confirm you have access to all role-specific tools and channels.
• Suggest who to schedule coffee chats with.
• Review company policies with you, including PTO and the Family and Friends First culture.
• Walk through GitLab’s operating principles, starting with Speed with Quality: move fast, learn faster, with the discipline that lets customers rely on our work. The CREDIT values that shaped GitLab’s first decade live on in these principles.
• Discuss team expectations and the organisation structure.
• Agree a plan to get customer-ready, including who you will run role-plays with.
• Check weekly that you are meeting your milestones, and identify the skills and resources for each learning objective.

Month 2

• Check in regularly, including on how you are finding GitLab’s async culture.
• Give feedback on your role-plays.
• Make sure your courses and certifications are on track, and whether you need more support to become customer-ready.
• Discuss best practices and rules of engagement for CSEs.

Month 3

• Agree a regular cadence for one-to-ones.
• Prepare you to take on your own customers and accounts.
• Join some of your customer calls and give structured feedback.
• Confirm all mandatory onboarding is complete, including Revenue Academy and the learning path.
• Explain how performance will be formally evaluated.

Beyond 3 months

• Give regular feedback on performance and build a growth plan with you for the coming year.
• Over the following months, go deeper on what good looks like, common pitfalls and how success is measured for:
  • Health assessments and working with the Renewals Manager.
  • Customer escalations.
  • Webinar and lab delivery.
  • Customer enablement and follow-up.
  • Documentation of engagements.

What your buddy does

Month 1

• Make you feel welcome, and set up a recurring check-in on your progress.
• Help with anything in the learning path or Revenue Academy that is unclear.
• Introduce you to the wider team and share tips and resources.

Month 2

• Bring you onto their customer calls to shadow and take notes.
• Debrief the calls and give constructive feedback.
• Align with your manager on how to support you further.

Month 3

• Co-lead calls with you until you are ready to lead on your own.
• Give feedback on your approach and facilitation style.
• Explain how they can keep supporting you after the formal onboarding period.

Graduation

You have graduated from CSE onboarding when you have:

• Completed the GitLab Academy eLearning prework and passed all knowledge checks.
• Attended all GitLab Academy sessions, including the Value Selling workshops.
• Attended all four role-based live skills sessions.
• Attended the in-person regional graduation summit and passed the stand-and-deliver capstone.
• Completed your role-based learning path.
• Earned the four certifications: Git Associate, CI/CD Associate, Project Management Associate and Security Specialist.
• Completed all role-play activities and discussed the feedback with your manager and buddy.

Continuous enablement

You will be invited to the ongoing enablement sessions for the field: Field Enablement Spotlight, SA/CX Training, and the CX Lunch and Learn. Please join and take part. See also the CS Development handbook.

Feedback

Your feedback on onboarding helps us improve it. Share it with your manager, in the onboarding feedback issue linked from the internal handbook, or in #field-enablement-team on Slack.

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