Dive Brief:

• GitLab appointed its Vice President, Finance James Shen as its interim CFO effective Sept. 20, following the departure of its previous finance chief Brian Robins from his roles as CFO and chief accounting officer on Sept. 19, according to a Tuesday securities filing. Robins, who had served as CFO for the San Francisco-based company since October 2020, left GitLab to take the top financial seat for software company Snowflake in a move effective Sept. 22, according to a Sept. 3 releases from both companies.
• “After serving five years, Brian Robins stepped down as Chief Financial Officer to pursue an opportunity at Snowflake,” a spokesperson for the open source and software development tool company told CFO Dive in an email. “We are currently conducting a global search to find and hire the best candidate to drive our continued growth and expansion. Interim CFO James Shen, who joined GitLab in January 2021 as VP of finance, is working closely with CEO Bill Staples to ensure a smooth transition while maintaining our focus on sustainable growth and enhancing profitability, positioning us for long-term success.”
• Simon Mundy, its VP, corporate controller, was appointed to serve as GitLab’s CAO, also effective as of Sept. 20, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The interim CFO and CAO appointments are the latest executive leadership shifts by GitLab, which also come as the company prepares for its next phase of growth amid expanding use of artificial intelligence, the company said.

Dive Insight:

GitLab recently appointed Manu Narayan as its chief information officer and Manav Khurana as its chief product and marketing officer, according to a Sept. 2 press release. 

Shen joined GitLab as its VP of finance in January 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to GitLab, he served in corporate finance positions for Facebook parent Meta, and held various finance roles for companies including Rainforest QA and DocuSign. Shen began his career in investment banking with Morgan Stanley.

In association with his appointment as interim CFO, Shen, 35, will receive an additional $10,000 each month in compensation, resulting in approximately $472,154 in annualized salary, according to the SEC filing. He was also granted a restricted stock unit award valued at $500,000 of company stock, which is set to vest quarterly over a two-year period.  

GitLab’s newly minted CAO Mundy, 41, is also a company veteran, having served as its corporate controller since March 2023, according to the filing. His previous roles include serving as senior director, accounting at Salesforce, as well as various accounting leadership roles at DocuSign. In assuming the CAO role, Mundy will receive an annual base salary of $370,000 and will be eligible to receive an annual target bonus of 40% of his base salary, according to the filing.

The two financial appointments come as GitLab continues to plan for its next phase of growth, with the development operations platform seeking to capitalize on the growing use of artificial intelligence, especially concerning the continued acceleration of agentic AI solutions. The company offers tools, such as its Duo Agent Platform, which utilize agentic AI solutions to aid software developers in completing various tasks such as bug fixes and project status upgrades, according to its website.

During its Q2 for its fiscal 2026, the company conducted a survey of nearly 400 customers to “better understand the impact of AI on their use of GitLab,” CEO Bill Staples said during its earnings call according to a transcript. According to the survey results, 91% of customers believe AI-native development tools will increase their use of GitLab within the next 24 months, while 88% expect their developer head count to increase or stay the same within the next 12 months, Staples said.

Staples also stressed GitLab’s competitive position as an “AI-native DevSecOps orchestration platform,” touting the company’s solutions in an increasingly competitive environment.

“This quarter, there were multiple reports that show the code these tools generate isn't always high quality or secure and research has shown that almost right code isn't having the positive effects on developer productivity that organizations had hoped for,” Staples said of the rise of vendors providing AI code generation tools. “These are the same challenges human engineers already have and the mission GitLab was built around.”

As it seeks to capitalize on the growing use of agentic AI solutions, GitLab is targeting full-year revenues for its fiscal 2026 between $936 million to $942 million, according to its most recent earnings report.

For its Q2 of fiscal 2025, GitLab reported revenue rose 29% YOY to reach $236 million, according to its earnings report released Sept. 3. The company also reported a GAAP net loss of $9.2 million, compared to a net income of $12.9 million in the prior year period.