Datadog for Startups Founding Engineering Lead

## Responsibilities - Run discovery calls with startup CTOs and engineering leads to identify quick wins, validate technical needs, and position Datadog against alternatives like Grafana, New Relic, Sentry, and Clickhouse - Deliver tailored Datadog demos and help startups get instrumented quickly - removing friction, showcasing value, and ensuring smooth technical onboarding, particularly around AI/ML observability, infrastructure scaling, and security - Manage forward-deployed engineering (FDE) projects embedded directly with client teams, translating their workflows and pain points into Datadog adoption and communicating customer needs back to product and engineering - Build automation to improve internal team workflows - EX: outreach, reporting, the application process, and website updates - Represent Datadog for Startups at accelerator demo days, hackathons, conferences, founder dinners, and workshops across San Francisco - Build relationships across SF's startup ecosystem - founders, VCs, accelerator partners, and technical communities - and develop thought leadership content for technical founder audiences ## Requirements - 5-7+ years in solutions architecture, pre-sales engineering, technical consulting, or a similar customer-facing technical role at a SaaS or cloud company, with broad fluency across cloud infrastructure, containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and modern application frameworks - A tinkerer with genuine, personal interest in AI and emerging technologies - you've used tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, or Cursor outside of work and follow what's happening with agentic workflows, vibe coding, and codegen because you find it interesting - Consultative mindset - you do the overview first, then go deep. You identify customer needs and quick wins in a first conversation, not just recite product features - Strong presence and communication skills - you can command a room of technical founders, run a compelling demo, and hold your own in an unscripted conversation with a CTO - Adaptable and flexible - comfortable shifting between contexts, priorities, and audiences quickly, and thrive in ambiguity on a small, lean team - Based in San Francisco and actively engaged in the local tech/startup community, with startup experience (founded a company, early-stage engineer, or consulting/advisory to founders) strongly preferred ## Nice to Have - None specified ## Benefits - New hire stock equity (RSUs) and employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) - Continuous professional development, product training, and career pathing - Intradepartmental mentor and buddy program for in-house networking - An inclusive company culture, ability to join our Community Guilds (Datadog Affinity Slacks) - Access to Inclusion Talks with a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Free, global mental health benefits for employees and dependents age 6+ - Competitive global benefits