CSMA Onboarding

View the CSMA Handbook homepage for additional CSMA-related handbook pages.

Onboarding for Customer Success Managers and Customer Success Architects is a guided, methodical process to ensure new team members have the knowledge they need to be effective.

There is a lot to learn to make you a great GitLab CSMA. It is important for new team members to gain competency on how our platform solutions provide customer value, and how we partner with customers to build a productive relationship. This handbook page will provide an overview of what can be expected during the onboarding journey including learning objectives, milestones, and ways in which a manager and onboarding buddy can support a new team member during their onboarding.

Overview of Role-Based CSMA Onboarding

As a CSMA, your onboarding experience will be a blended learning experience that includes the following elements:

  1. Your onboarding issue, assigned to you by the People team
  2. GitLab Academy (for full details and links, see The GitLab Academy Highspot page)
    1. Asynchronous eLearning Paths & Introductions to the Revenue Organization: a self-paced role-based learning path on Level Up (our internal Learning Management System)
    2. Synchronous Value Selling class & workshops: four two-hour virtual sessions (pre-reads required)
    3. Synchronous Role-based Skills Workshops: enablement leads and SMEs will facilitate workshops to feature core role fundamentals and skill-based development
    4. In-person, regional Bootcamp: two-day event to participate in cross-functional and role-based workshops and complete live exercise before graduating
  3. A buddy-led onboarding program, which includes 1:1 calls, hands-on work, shadowing customer calls, and exposure to real-life customer scenarios and activities

GitLab Academy for CSMAs

Milestones and Onboarding Roadmap

Synchronous Role-based Skills Sessions

As part of GitLab Academy Component 3 (Synchronous Role-based Skills Workshops), CSMAs attend four role-based live virtual sessions. These sessions are 90 minutes each and run on a rolling monthly rotation. Session 0 is shared across all Customer Experience new hires.

Session 0 — One CX: Roles, Customer Journey and Overview

Audience: All CX new hires (CSM, CSA, CSE, RM, PS Engagement Manager, PS Technical Architect, PS Project Manager)

Format: Watch and AMA — approximately 60 minutes of async pre-watch followed by a 30-minute live AMA session

What this covers:

  • The One CX model and how all roles connect across the customer journey
  • Success Tiers overview — Self-Guided through Signature, and what each tier means
  • Professional Services and Education Services overview — what is available and when each applies
  • Win stories illustrating what strong CX collaboration looks like in practice
  • How to work with PS, CS, and Renewals as a team

Pre-work: Watch the CX Roadshow recording (linked in your cohort Slack channel) before the live AMA session.

Session 1 — Customer Onboarding and Time-to-Value

Format: Workshop — scenario-based

What this covers:

  • The customer onboarding journey — key milestones from closed/won to first value
  • CSM vs. CSA roles in customer onboarding — where each role plugs in, handoffs, and collaboration points
  • How onboarding progress is tracked in Gainsight and Salesforce — CTAs and health scores
  • Scenario practice — building a day 1-30 plan for a sample customer profile

Session 2 — Success Tiers, EBRs and Success Planning

Format: Workshop — discussion and practice

What this covers:

  • Success Tiers — On-Demand through Signature, and what each tier means for CSM vs. CSA engagement; note that CSMAs are only available as a paid option through Success Tiers, and both CSM and CSA are expected to be able to position tier upgrades
  • Success Planning — what a good success plan looks like, how it’s built, and who owns what
  • EBRs — purpose, how to book one, who should be in the room, and CSM vs. CSA ownership
  • Risk and renewal management — how to identify and flag risk early and its connection to renewal forecasting
  • Scenario practice — preparing for and running an EBR conversation with a sample at-risk account

Session 3 — Systems and Operating Rhythm

Format: Live demo and hands-on walkthrough

What this covers:

  • Systems overview — what lives where across Salesforce, Gainsight, GitLab.com, and Highspot
  • Gainsight deep dive — health scores, CTAs, cadence calls, and success plan tracking
  • Salesforce for CSM/CSA — what you need to know and own
  • GitLab Operating Model — how Issues and Epics are used to manage the business and how CSM/CSA contributes
  • Hands-on practice navigating a sample Gainsight account, finding a CTA, and updating a health score

Graduation from GitLab Academy

In order to be considered as having graduated from your CSMA onboarding journey, you need to have completed the following:

  • Completed GitLab Academy eLearning prework on GitLab University
  • Attended all GitLab Academy sessions, including the Command of the Message class (attendance is mandatory)
  • Attended all four role-based live skills sessions
  • Attended the in-person regional Academy Graduation Bootcamp and passed the stand-and-deliver capstone assessment
  • Completed your role-based learning path on GitLab University
  • Completed the Pulse+ CSM Certificate I and Advanced CSM Certificate II
  • Attained the following certificates:
    • GitLab Certified Git Associate
    • GitLab Certified CI/CD Associate
    • GitLab Certified Project Management Associate
    • GitLab Certified Security Specialist
  • Completed role play activities and discussed feedback with your manager / onboarding buddy
  • Shadowed at least 4 calls per week throughout your onboarding and discussed with your manager

Buddy-led CSMA Onboarding Program

This program is an optional, self-paced supplement to the official GitLab onboarding experience described above. It is not a requirement for graduation, but is designed to run alongside your role-based learning path and GitLab Academy sessions — giving you and your onboarding buddy a structured daily touchpoint while you are ramping into the role.

Overview

The CSMA Onboarding Program is a 4-week initiative built around daily focused learning modules, practical assignments, and weekly mentor check-ins. Each module pairs a short video with a hands-on assignment so that concepts are immediately applied to real CSMA workflows.

→ Start Here: Program Intro Video

The program lives in GitLab as a set of issues that you and your onboarding buddy work through together. Each issue contains the learning content, relevant handbook links, and a practical assignment for that day.

Program Details

  • Duration: 4 weeks, one module per business day
  • Participants: New hire CSMA + assigned onboarding buddy
  • Format: Daily video review → practical assignment → weekly mentor check-in
  • Effort: ~30 minutes per day alongside your main onboarding activities

How to Get Started

For new CSMAs

To get started, create your onboarding project (reach out to your buddy if you run into problems!):

  1. Go to the CS Training Programs subgroup (if you do not have access, ask your buddy or manager for help)
  2. Click Create Project
  3. Click Create from template
  4. Click Group
  5. Next to CS Onboarding, click Use Template
  6. Title the project [Your Name] Onboarding
  7. Click Create project
  8. Read the README.md and follow along!

Once you’ve set up your project, do the following each day until you have completed the program:

  1. Open the issue for today’s module and work through the content at your own pace.
  2. Complete the assignment at the bottom of each issue — these are optional.
  3. Bring your questions and assignment reflections to your weekly mentor check-in.

For onboarding buddies

  1. Review this Program Intro Video to get an understanding of the Onboarding Program structure.
  2. Ensure the new hire has correctly created their onboarding project and assist them if needed.
  3. Use the weekly issue structure to guide your check-in conversations — each week has a natural theme to discuss.
  4. The assignments are designed as conversation starters, not homework to review. Use them to surface what’s clicking and where more context would help.
  5. Make sure you share your own insights and experiences as you go through the program; discuss your current customers and invite the new hire to your calls to shadow so they can see how the work you’re doing together is applied in real-time.

The 4-Week Curriculum

Week 1: Foundations

Day Topic
Day 1 CSMA Program Overview and Role
Day 2 Google Drive Overview
Day 3 Transitioning onto a New Account
Day 4 Cadence Call Fundamentals
Day 5 Cadence Call Follow-Up

Week 2: Customer Systems & Tools

Day Topic
Day 1 Gainsight Fundamentals
Day 2 Collaboration Projects
Day 3 Success Planning
Day 4 Account Escalation and At-Risk Management
Day 5 Engaging With Product Teams

Week 3: Technical Processes & Support

Day Topic
Day 1 Feature Request Management
Day 2 Searching in GitLab Fundamentals
Day 3 Working With the Support Team
Day 4 Customer Usage Data Fundamentals
Day 5 GitLab + Claude (AI) Fundamentals

Week 4: Advanced Engagement

Day Topic
Day 1 EBR Prep
Day 2 Highspot
Day 3 Workshop Planning
Day 4 Cross-Team Engagement
Day 5 Deprecations & Breaking Changes

Program Completion

After finishing Week 4, you’ll receive a final issue with reflection prompts to help you and your mentor identify areas for continued development. You’ll also be invited to complete a short feedback survey and schedule a debrief conversation.

After completing your onboarding, work with your onboarding buddy to get connected with the 12-week CSMA Mentorship Program, a structured peer development initiative to pair CSMAs who want to accelerate skill growth and share best practices with an experienced CSMA.

Onboarding Buddy — Reach out to @jgleason1 to discuss transition plan to Mentorship Program.

Expectations for Manager support during onboarding

As a new CSMA, your manager will be there to support you during your onboarding journey. Beyond the expectations laid out for your manager in your onboarding issue, you can anticipate they will also provide you support on the following:

Month 1

  • Schedule recurring 1:1s and check-in calls
  • Provide guidance on who the new team member should schedule coffee chats with during their onboarding journey
  • Review and discuss company policies
    • PTO policy
    • Family and Friends first culture
    • GitLab Values
  • Discuss any team-specific expectations
  • Review organizational structure
  • Ensure new team member has access to role-specific tools and appropriate Slack channels
  • Align on a general plan to get customer ready including who to schedule your onboarding role plays with and shadow at least 4 calls per week
  • Ensure new team member is meeting expected milestones from week to week
  • Identify skills to be mastered and resources available to accomplish learning objectives

Month 2

  • Regular check-ins on your progress adapting to the role and to GitLab
    • Ask them if they are experiencing any challenges with GitLab’s asynchronous culture
    • Discuss any general concerns
  • Constructive feedback on role plays that were completed during the onboarding learning path
  • Ensure onboarding milestones are met and that all required courses and certifications are completed
  • Align on whether your new team member is on track to be customer-ready and support to be ramped
  • Prep for taking over assigned customers
  • Discuss best practices and rules of engagement for CSMAs

Month 3

  • Shadowing customer calls and feedback provided as needed
  • 90-day check-in to assess onboarding and begin planning for additional development
  • Discuss how performance will be formally evaluated

Beyond 3 months

  • Regular feedback on performance
  • Partnership on an individual growth plan for goals the team member wants to achieve in the coming year
  • Ongoing discussion on the following topics:
    • Cadence Calls
    • Success Plans
    • EBRs
    • Customer Escalations
    • Customer Enablement
    • Adoption Paths
    • Gainsight Hygiene

Expectations for Buddy support during onboarding

Month 1

  • Nurture a welcoming environment for the new team member
  • Establish a recurring 1:1 meeting to check in on the new team member’s progress on onboarding activities
  • Provide assistance with any barriers or difficulty understanding concepts covered in the onboarding learning path and GitLab Academy
  • Connect the new team member with members of the broad team to build a network
  • Share helpful tips and resources that are beneficial during their onboarding and beyond
  • Work through buddy-led onboarding program

Month 2

  • Provide opportunities for new team member to shadow you on calls and assist with note taking
  • Debrief on calls and discuss feedback
  • Align with new team member’s manager on ways you can provide support

Month 3

  • Co-lead calls with the new team member until they are ready to take over customer interactions independently
  • Share constructive feedback
  • Inform new team member on how you can support them beyond their onboarding journey

The buddy should join the first 5-10 customer meetings led by the new CSMA. If the buddy is not available, the manager should join instead.

  • It is not only for technical guidance but much more for general feedback and building confidence in the CSMA role.
  • The close feedback loop will enable new CSMAs to learn faster by helping them understand if their approach was the best one, where they can improve, and what went well.
  • Generally, increased interaction between the onboarding buddy and new CSMA will reduce the onboarding time.
  • Asking questions and feeling comfortable doing so, improved new hire satisfaction to start working with clients.

Additional Resources

Continuous Enablement

For high level information on enablement initiatives for the Customer Success Manager/Engineer teams, please refer to the CS Enablement Corner. Additionally, please be sure to check out the CS Development Handbook page.

You will be receiving calendar invitations for Customer Success Skills Exchange and Field Enablement Spotlight sessions. Customer Success Skills Exchange is a biweekly series while Field Enablement Spotlight is a weekly session. Both cover various topics related to and pertinent to the field. Please be sure to join and participate in these sessions!

Feedback

Your feedback on the onboarding process is important to us and we welcome your thoughts and ideas about how we can improve in the future. Please share your feedback in the following issue for anything regarding the GitLab Academy: CSMA Onboarding Feedback. For feedback on the buddy-led CSMA Onboarding Program, feel free to open an issue in the feedback project and tag your onboarding buddy and manager.

Customer Handover

After you have completed both the general and the role-based onboarding and you feel comfortable with working with customers, you will start the onboarding to your first customer account. In case you are taking over your first customer from another CSMA, the Account Handoff CSMA-to-CSMA Checklist is a very helpful resource. This handbook page also contains a list of questions that you can answer and afterwards discuss with the current CSMA on the account. That way, the handover process will be smoother and you ensure that no important customer topic is forgotten. When preparing for the account handover, take a look at the Google Drive folder for the customer, Gainsight, Salesforce, Zendesk and the corresponding GitLab collaboration project. In Gainsight, it is particularly helpful to go through the timeline and the success plan for the customer to get a quick overview of ongoing topics, initiatives and issues.

CS Office Hours

We host weekly CS office hours meetings to help you answer questions in a judgment-free space. You can add your questions to the agenda document linked in the Google Calendar invite and hop on the call to work through questions or learn how to find helpful resources.

Helpful resources for faster onboarding

By talking to new hires and recent new CSMA team members, it was identified that the onboarding buddy relationship plays a critical role for success of a new hire in the CSMA team. Existing CSMAs explained that having a very close / short loop to their onboarding saw a close relationship as a tremendous speed up of their onboarding.

Buddies should always be CSMAs (same department), to match the role as close as possible, as it will help the new hire to resolve questions around their responsibilities and tasks quicker and more efficient, compared to going through multiple chats or calls. To pick an onboarding buddy, CSMA managers will use the guidance section for buddies from our general handbook section.

Slack Channels

New team members often struggle to find the right set of Slack channels to participate in, and to filter out noise that is not relevant to them, especially in the first weeks of their start in the CSMA team. The following list should provide an initial set of channels that will be helpful to new hires.

  • CSMA - General

    • #customer-experience
    • #cx-internal
    • #cs-questions
    • #field-fyi
    • #tim-tams

  • GitLab - General

    • #questions
    • #whats-happening-at-gitlab
    • #company-fyi
    • #it-help
    • #escalated_customers
    • #thanks
    • #dap-gtm-help

  • CSMA - Regional

    • #team-csm-dach
    • #emea-customer-success
    • #team-csm-emea
    • #social-csm-emea
    • #csma-amer-team

For all product management related questions, a CSMA should review our handbook page at following location to identify the right channel for the topic they are looking to learn more. Those team channels should be asked if there is no documentation available for the problem/question and also if the CSMA did not find an issue that already discusses this question.

A great resource to learn how to engage with GitLab product is available in the product handbook here

Collection of key handbook pages and other resources for CSMAs to read and focus on when onboarding in their first 3 months

Product Knowledge

Collection of initial set of key product links, which can help in the first 4-6 weeks of onboarding as a new hire.

GitLab Webinars

As a new joiner to get up to speed on your technical skills and observe how more senior team members hold webinars find the Webinars on the Scale Webinar calendar and register/join as participant. You can also watch the recordings of some of those Webinars on YouTube - GitLab Webinars - GitLab Unfiltered - Playlist.

GitLab.com Playground and Demo space

For self lead training and experimentation you can setup your own playground/demo space on GitLab.com. Find a self-paced guide here:

GitLab Self Managed Playground and Demo space

Many of our prospects and customers choose the option to maintain their own Self Managed GitLab installation based on the reference architecture. To be able to walk in your customers’ shoes and experience the same possibilities as well as challenges, there is a shared GitLab Omnibus environment for CSMAs to use.

  1. Follow these instructions to get access to the shared Omnibus Instances
  2. The Get started administering GitLab Guide is a great starting point
  3. You can export a Service Ping data file from the instance and explore product usage data via the Service ping analysis engine

Finding Answers

GitLab is a massive and ever-changing product — nobody can know everything. It is important to learn how to find answers. These handbook pages might help you with it.

  1. Searching GitLab like a pro
  2. Researching Customer Questions
Meeting Shadowing
View the CSM Handbook homepage for additional CSM-related handbook pages. To learn how GitLab CSMs …
Last modified May 22, 2026: Update file _index.md for CSM Onboarding Page (ce271415)
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