Senior Staff Software Engineer

The shape of it

In the posting’s own words

As individual contributors, they bring world-class technical depth to build industry-leading systems in areas such as observability data platforms, distributed query engines, and real-time event streaming at global scale.

What it asks for · 9

• You have a BS/MS/PhD in a scientific field or equivalent practical experience.
• You have 10+ years of backend, infrastructure, or distributed systems engineering experience.
• You have 4+ years of experience leading complex technical initiatives and cross-team projects. You have designed and delivered systems that are deeply technical, highly reliable, and serve critical business needs.
• You can navigate and make progress in ambiguous problem spaces, identifying the right problems to solve.
• You have exceptional communication skills, with the ability to align diverse stakeholders around a shared technical vision.
• You have deep expertise in one or more core systems domains—such as distributed storage, event streaming, networking, data infrastructure, or large-scale observability—and broad awareness of adjacent areas.
• You care about getting things right, not just getting them done, and you raise the bar for engineering quality around you.
• You have demonstrated ability to use AI coding tools in day-to-day workflows and validate, critique, and refine AI-generated output
• Bonus: You’re motivated to push the boundaries of how AI can improve software engineering best practices and contribute to building AI-enabled products

What the job covers

• Be the technical owner of multiple critical systems or architecture areas, often spanning several teams or product lines.
• Drive the design and delivery of high-scale, high-impact projects, from vision to execution in production.
• Build consensus and alignment across stakeholders on key architectural decisions and long-term strategy.
• Deeply investigate and optimize performance, reliability, and efficiency in large-scale distributed systems.
• Collaborate with Staff Engineers, Directors, and VPs across the company to shape Datadog’s technical roadmap.
• Guide teams through ambiguity, scaling challenges, and evolving requirements with clear technical direction.
• Actively mentor engineers and influence engineering culture through leadership in design reviews, technical talks, and working groups.

Degree language

• You have a BS/MS/PhD in a scientific field or equivalent practical experience.

Tools and skills named

Words the posting leans on

• technical13×
• systems9×
• engineering7×
• distributed5×
• design4×
• engineers4×
• experience4×
• infrastructure4×
• large-scale4×
• areas3×
• building3×
• data3×
• observability3×
• product3×
• projects3×
• technical leaders3×

Counted from the posting after the mission statement and the legal notices are set aside. The ones near the top are the ones a screener is looking for.

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