Product Designer, Concept Architect

This is a specialty within the Product Designer job family, not a separate job family. Concept Architects carry the full foundation of the Product Designer role and add the specialized work of concept-stage design: generating future bets, building the case for investment, and moving those bets from idea to executive decision.

The motion is concept, pitch, secured investment. Concept Architects do not ship into product groups. They work on what does not yet exist, justify why it should, and make the argument compelling enough to earn the resources that bring it to life.

Concept Architects work closely with designers across Upstream Studios, drawing on deep product and domain expertise that lives outside the practice. The level of involvement varies by concept. Some work is developed in close collaboration, some requires targeted input at a specific moment, and some stays within Design Strategy until it is ready for a broader audience. Once a concept secures organizational investment, the relevant teams typically carry it forward. When the work falls outside what an existing team owns, or when Design Strategy has the skills to ship it, Concept Architects see it through.

Base Requirements For All Roles

• Ability to use GitLab.
• Several years of professional experience in product design, with demonstrated strength in early-stage, exploratory, or concept-driven work.
• Comfort operating without a product manager or engineering partner. Concept Architects generate their own briefs, develop their own business rationale, and drive work forward without trio structure.
• Experience translating ambiguous problem spaces into concrete, communicable ideas. The output is not a finished product; it is a clear, credible argument for what could be built and why it matters.
• Demonstrated ability to build the business case for a design direction, including understanding of market context, user need, and strategic fit.
• Strong visual communication and storytelling craft. Concept Architects present to executives. Work that cannot be understood in a room is not ready.
• Familiarity with how enterprise software organizations make investment decisions, including what evidence is persuasive and what format lands with senior audiences.
• Comfort working under Concept Release Discipline, which defines how and when concept work is shared inside and outside Upstream Studios. Work in this practice is released in phases; discretion is part of the job.
• You share our values and work in accordance with those values.
• Strong bias for action and ability to develop daily priorities to achieve goals (manager of one).
• Proficiency in the English language, both written and verbal, sufficient for success in a remote and largely asynchronous work environment.
• Working knowledge of GitLab workflows (issues, epics, merge requests) and comfort operating within a GitLab-first environment.

Levels

The Concept Architect specialty begins at the Staff level. The work is inherently senior: it requires judgment about what is worth building, the credibility to argue for it, and the craft to make it legible to people who will decide whether to fund it.

Staff Product Designer, Concept Architect

A Staff Concept Architect works within the Design Strategy practice on one or more concepts. They move a concept from initial problem framing through a state that is ready for executive review, building the rationale and the artifact in parallel.

Responsibilities

• Concept development: Own the end-to-end design of a concept, from problem identification through the artifact that carries it into executive review. This includes defining the opportunity, validating the core tension, exploring solution directions, and committing to a clear point of view.
• Business justification: Build the case for investment with the rigor of someone who knows it will be scrutinized. That means understanding the competitive landscape, the user need, the strategic fit within GitLab’s direction, and the argument for why now.
• Executive review artifacts: Design the artifacts that carry a concept into executive review. The output is the concept itself, not documentation of it. Slide decks, demo videos, prototype walkthroughs, and written briefs are all within scope.
• Concept Release Discipline: Operate within established release phases (Dark, Internal Debut, External). Know when a concept is ready to move phases and advocate for that transition with the evidence to support it.
• Market awareness: Stay current on where the market is moving, what competitors are building, and where the gaps are that GitLab is positioned to lead. Bring that awareness into concept development so the work is grounded in what is actually happening, not what was true when the concept started.
• Collaboration without trio: Work effectively without a product manager or engineering counterpart. Identify when input would strengthen a concept and seek it without waiting for it to be assigned.
• Cross-Studio collaboration: Identify when a concept requires expertise that lives outside the Design Strategy practice and bring in the right designers from across Upstream Studios. Manage that involvement with enough clarity that contributors can add value without needing to own the work.
• Upstream contribution: Bring ideas and positions to Design Strategy’s shared working sessions. The team is small and the quality of the thinking in the room matters to everyone in it.

Requirements

A Staff Concept Architect is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities with independent judgment, generating work that is ready for executive review without requiring structural scaffolding to keep it moving.

Principal Product Designer, Concept Architect

A Principal Concept Architect operates at the company level, shaping which concepts Design Strategy pursues and building the institutional credibility that makes investment decisions easier to reach. They carry a more complex portfolio than Staff, lead concepts that span multiple product areas or require significant investment justification, and begin shaping how the practice itself develops. Their judgment about what is worth building carries weight beyond the practice.

Responsibilities

• Complex concept leadership: Lead concepts that are larger in scope, longer in horizon, or more politically complex. This includes work that touches multiple product areas, requires external validation, or involves a higher bar for business justification because the investment required is significant.
• Introduction strategy: Develop the strategy for how a concept gets introduced to the organization, not just the artifact that carries it. That means sequencing: who hears it first, what objections to anticipate, where a concept needs to be stronger before it is ready for a particular audience.
• Portfolio direction: Shape the overall portfolio of concepts within Design Strategy, including what gets prioritized, what gets paused, and what gets retired. This requires understanding GitLab’s strategic direction, where engineering investment is likely to flow, and what design can credibly lead versus support.
• Cross-concept coherence: See across the Design Strategy portfolio and notice when concepts have dependencies, conflicts, or amplifying relationships. Name those connections and help the practice benefit from them.
• Executive relationships: Build and maintain working relationships with executive stakeholders before a concept reaches the decision room. Principals know what the audience cares about because they have been in the room enough to have earned that knowledge.
• Investment framing: Develop the language, the evidence standards, and the narrative formats that make Design Strategy’s concepts legible to leadership. A good concept that cannot be explained to the people who fund it is not yet done.
• Organizational influence: Represent Design Strategy’s work in cross-functional leadership conversations. When decisions are being made about product direction, engineering capacity, or where to invest, a Principal Concept Architect ensures design’s perspective is present and specific.
• Market positioning: Develop a point of view on where GitLab can lead the market rather than follow it, and use that point of view to shape which concepts Design Strategy pursues. Track competitor direction, emerging customer expectations, and shifts in the broader software development landscape with enough depth to make a credible argument for why a particular problem space is worth owning now.
• Cross-Studio collaboration: Orchestrate collaboration with designers across Upstream Studios on concepts that require deeper or broader input. Know which designers to involve, when to involve them, and how to integrate their expertise without losing the design position the concept is built around.
• Practice maturity: Drive the maturity of the Concept Architect practice itself, including how concepts are generated, evaluated, developed, and released. The practice is still early. Principals help define what it looks like at its best.
• Mentoring: Develop Staff Concept Architects in the craft of early-stage design, business case development, and executive communication. The Principal level has seen enough cycles to know where concepts fail and to say so before a concept reaches the decision room.

Requirements

A Principal Concept Architect is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while raising the quality of the work around them, shaping what Design Strategy pursues, and building the relationships that make investment outcomes more predictable.

Distinguished Product Designer, Concept Architect

A Distinguished Concept Architect represents the highest level of individual contribution in this practice. They define what concept-stage design looks like at its best, inside GitLab and in the design industry. Their work sets a bar others aspire to, and their judgment about what is worth building carries company-level weight.

Responsibilities

• Company-level concept strategy: Shape what GitLab invests in by contributing to product strategy at the executive level. A Distinguished Concept Architect does not wait to be asked what design thinks. They are already in the conversation, with a point of view and the evidence to support it.
• Executive partnership: Partner directly with design, product, and engineering leadership to influence how investment decisions get made. This includes building the conditions that make design-led concepts credible before they reach the decision room.
• Discipline definition: Define what the Concept Architect specialty is, what it produces, and what excellence looks like at every level of the ladder. The Distinguished level holds the standard for the entire practice.
• Industry presence: Contribute to design thinking at the industry level through writing, speaking, or participation in relevant communities. Design Strategy’s approach to concept-stage work is genuinely new. A Distinguished Concept Architect helps the field understand what it makes possible.
• Market leadership: Define where GitLab should be going before the market makes it obvious. A Distinguished Concept Architect is reading signals early enough that the concepts they champion put GitLab ahead of the conversation, not inside it. That requires sustained attention to where technology, customer behavior, and competitive pressure are heading, and the confidence to argue for a direction before it is widely legible.
• Cross-Studio collaboration: Shape how Design Strategy engages the broader Upstream Studios organization as a practice pattern, not just on individual concepts. Define what productive collaboration looks like between Concept Architects and the teams who will eventually carry concepts forward, and build the relationships that make those transitions effective.
• Organizational development: Partner with design leadership on team structure, practice health, and career development across Design Strategy. Mentor Principal and Staff Concept Architects. Cultivate the conditions that attract and retain people who want to do this kind of work.

Requirements

A Distinguished Concept Architect is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while driving the intellectual ambition of Design Strategy and coaching others to produce the most consequential early-stage design work in the company.

Performance Indicators

• Quality and investment outcome of concepts presented to executive leadership
• Concept Release Discipline adherence across active concepts
• Number of concepts that advance from Dark phase to Internal Debut and from Internal Debut to External
• Strength of business justification as assessed in executive review
• Demonstration of market awareness in concept rationale, including evidence that concepts are grounded in current competitive and customer context
• Effectiveness of cross-Studio collaboration, including how well subject matter experts are engaged and how smoothly concepts transition to the teams that carry them forward
• Practice maturity over time, including how consistently the team produces concepts ready for executive review without requiring significant rework
• Designer-reported confidence in concept development methods, executive communication, and business justification

Relevant Links

• Upstream Studios
• Design Strategy
• Concept Architects
• Concept Release Discipline

Hiring Process

Candidates for this position can expect the hiring process to follow the order below, although it can change depending on calendar availability. Please keep in mind that candidates can be declined from the position at any stage of the process.

Screening Call

Selected candidates will be invited to schedule a 30-minute screening call with a member of our hiring team. In this call, we will discuss your experience in early-stage and concept-driven design work, understand what draws you to Design Strategy and the Concept Architect practice, talk through your approach to building the business case for a design direction, discuss your compensation expectations and reasons for wanting to join GitLab, and answer any questions you have.

Interview Process

1. Interview with a peer (1 hour): This conversation focuses on how you approach concept-stage design work: how you identify a problem space worth pursuing, how you develop a design position before you have answers, and how you know when a concept is ready for executive review. Come prepared to walk through a specific concept you developed, including the problem framing, your process, the artifact, and the outcome.
2. Interview with the Hiring Manager (1 hour): This interview explores your strategic thinking, your relationship to ambiguity, and how you work without the structural support of a trio. The conversation will also focus on your experience communicating design directions to senior audiences and what you have learned about what makes a concept land with a decision-making audience.
3. Interview with a cross-functional partner from Product or Engineering leadership (1 hour): This conversation assesses how you build credibility with partners outside design and how you have navigated the relationship between a speculative design direction and an organization that needs to decide whether to fund it.
4. Interview with the Chief Design Officer (50 minutes): This conversation focuses on your understanding of what Design Strategy is trying to do and what you would bring to the practice. The interviewer will want to understand how you think about the relationship between concept work and company strategy, and where you see the most interesting problems to pursue.

Offer

Successful candidates will subsequently be made an offer through a video or phone call.

 

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