Senior Software Engineer - Distributed Systems
Datadog
$192,000 - $240,000 / year
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Description
Distributed Systems engineers at Datadog design, implement and run in production the foundational platforms powering our applications. Your data pipelines will ingest, store, analyze and query in real-time billions of events per second from companies all over the globe. The platforms are optimized for durability, high availability, low latency, internet-scale footprint and operability.
At Datadog, we place value in our office culture - the relationships that it builds, the creativity it brings to the table, and the collaboration of being together. We operate as a hybrid workplace to ensure our employees can create a work-life harmony that best fits them.
What You’ll Do:
- Build fault-tolerant, horizontally scalable solutions running in multi-tenant environments
- Write in Go, Java Rust or C++, amongst other languages
- Use Kafka, Redis, Cassandra, Elasticsearch and other open-source components
- Own meaningful parts of our service, have an impact, grow with the company
Who You Are:
- 6+ years of experience
- You have a BS/MS/PhD in a scientific field or equivalent experience
- You have significant backend programming experience in one or more languages (Go, Java, Rust, C++)
- You have been exposed to working on problems (high durability / low latency /…)
- You can get down to the low-level when needed
- You care about simple designs and performance
- You want to work in a fast, high-growth startup environment that respects its engineers and customers
- 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.
This job is available in various departments within our company; to conform to US export control regulations, some of these roles may require candidates to be eligible for any required authorizations from the US government.
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:
- 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 employee resource groups)
- Access to Inclusion Talks, our Internal panel discussions
- Free, global mental health benefits for employees and dependents age 6+
- Competitive global benefits
Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog.
Datadog offers a competitive salary and equity package, and may include variable compensation. Actual compensation is based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience. In addition, Datadog offers a wide range of best in class, comprehensive and inclusive employee benefits for this role including healthcare, dental, parental planning, and mental health benefits, a 401(k) plan and match, paid time off, fitness reimbursements, and a discounted employee stock purchase plan.
About Datadog:
Datadog is the leading observability and security platform for the AI era, providing businesses with unified visibility across the technology stack to manage complexity at scale. It brings applications, infrastructure, data, models, and security into one place, using AI to detect and resolve issues before they impact customers. Trusted globally by Fortune 500 companies and high-growth AI leaders, Datadog enables businesses to move faster with clarity and confidence. Learn more about #DatadogLife on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Datadog Learning Center.
Equal Opportunity at Datadog:
Datadog is proud to offer equal employment opportunity to everyone regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, veteran status, and other characteristics protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. Here are our Candidate Legal Notices for your reference.
Datadog endeavors to make our Careers Page accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please complete this form. This form is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.
Privacy and AI Guidelines:
Any information you submit to Datadog as part of your application will be processed in accordance with Datadog’s Applicant and Candidate Privacy Notice. For information on our AI policy, please visit Interviewing at Datadog AI Guidelines.
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 employee resource groups)
- Access to Inclusion Talks, our Internal panel discussions
- Free, global mental health benefits for employees and dependents age 6+
- Competitive global benefits
About this role
Building the infrastructure that processes billions of events per second across Datadog's platform requires deep expertise in distributed systems design and implementation. In this role, you'd own meaningful portions of the data pipelines and foundational services that power the company's observability platform, working with technologies like Kafka, Redis, Cassandra, and Elasticsearch to solve problems around durability, low latency, and internet-scale availability. You'd write primarily in Go, Java, Rust, or C++, and be expected to move fluidly between high-level architecture and low-level optimization when needed.
The position calls for at least six years of backend engineering experience and a scientific degree or equivalent background, with demonstrated ability to tackle complex distributed systems challenges. Datadog is particularly interested in engineers who are comfortable with AI coding tools and can critically evaluate their output—ideally those interested in pushing how AI can improve engineering practices more broadly. The role is based in Boston and requires in-office presence, though the company operates with hybrid flexibility.
Compensation ranges from $192,000 to $240,000, with equity grants, a 401(k) match, and comprehensive benefits including healthcare, mental health support, and professional development opportunities. This is a good fit if you're looking to work on high-impact infrastructure at scale within a fast-growing company that values engineering rigor.
How this employer is doing
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Pay for this role
$192,000 to $240,000 per year
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