Director, Engineering Operations

About Datadog's Engineering Organization

Datadog's Engineering organization is a global, highly technical team of nearly 4,000 engineers, designers, and product partners across the US and EMEA, and it continues to grow rapidly. As Datadog’s footprint and product offerings expand, building a strong operational foundation and clear operating rhythm to support delivery at scale has become critical.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for building and leading the Engineering Operations function. Reporting to the Chief of Staff to the CTO, this leader will define how Engineering operates by driving higher productivity, reducing operational friction, and enabling better decision-making across the organization.

To do this, the Director, Engineering Operations will establish and evolve the programs, systems, and ways of working that support Engineering as it grows. This includes improving how teams plan, communicate, and measure effectiveness, while reducing administrative overhead so Engineering leaders can focus more of their time on building and shipping high-quality software.

This role has a broad impact across Engineering. You’ll partner closely with senior leaders across Product, Finance, People, Legal, and Business Operations, and work in close thought partnership with the CTO’s Chief of Staff.

What You'll Do as Director, Engineering Operations

• Set the Vision for Engineering Operations at Scale: Define and evolve the approach, scope, and operating model for Engineering Operations, ensuring it meets the needs of a fast-growing, global engineering organization today and in the future.
• Establish a Cohesive Operating Rhythm: Help define how Engineering plans, reviews progress, and communicates by connecting budgeting, headcount planning, and productivity insights into a simple, repeatable cadence.
• Design Scalable Operating Mechanisms: Design and continuously improve the programs and systems that support Engineering at scale. Identify where manual or fragmented processes can be elevated through tooling, automation, and thoughtful use of data and AI, while keeping things simple and consistent for teams.
• Drive Data-Informed Operational Decisions: Improve the quality and usability of engineering operational data, enabling leaders to better understand capacity, productivity trends, and organizational health.
• Oversee Engineering Enablement: Oversee the Engineering Enablement team responsible for onboarding, learning infrastructure, internal events, and community-building. Ensure these programs grow with the organization and reflect Datadog’s culture.
• Build a High-Impact Team: Develop and lead a small, high-impact Engineering Operations team. Define the capabilities, roles, and growth plan needed to support the organization as it continues to scale.

Who You Are

• A senior leader with strong operational savvy, ideally with experience supporting large, complex, and rapidly scaling technical organizations.
• An excellent communicator with high standards for quality and polish, able to convey complex ideas clearly through writing and presentations.
• Highly data-oriented, seeking out relevant data before making decisions and focused on defining meaningful ways to measure outcomes and impact.
• Technically fluent and curious about emerging technologies, with a strong interest in how AI and automation can improve operational effectiveness.
• Comfortable setting direction in ambiguous environments and building new operational capabilities from the ground up.
• A trusted thought partner to senior technical leaders, known for sound judgment and pragmatic problem-solving.
• Energized by Datadog’s culture of technical depth, fast iteration, and high-quality execution.

Datadog values people from all walks of life. We understand not everyone will meet all the above qualifications on day one. That's okay. If you’re passionate about technology and want to grow your skills, we encourage you to apply.

Benefits and Growth at Datadog

Datadog offers a generous and competitive benefits package, new hire stock equity (RSUs) and an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP). You will also benefit from continuous professional development, product training, career pathing, and an intradepartmental mentor and buddy program for in-house networking. Datadog fosters an inclusive company culture with active Community Guilds (employee resource groups) and access to Inclusion Talks and internal panel discussions. Employees enjoy free, global mental health benefits for themselves and dependents, alongside competitive global benefits which may vary based on employment country and nature.

Datadog provides a competitive salary and equity package, potentially including variable compensation. Actual compensation is determined by factors such as a candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience. Comprehensive and inclusive employee benefits for this role include healthcare, dental, parental planning, mental health benefits, a 401(k) plan and match, paid time off, fitness reimbursements, and a discounted employee stock purchase plan. The estimated yearly salary for this role is $260,000—$380,000 USD.

Key skills/competency

• Engineering Operations
• Strategic Planning
• Productivity Improvement
• Process Optimization
• Data-Driven Decision Making
• Leadership Development
• Program Management
• Scalable Systems Design
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• AI/Automation Implementation