Manager I, Applied AI - Distilled Models

Datadog; Paris; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Datadog's Applied AI team builds cost-efficient specialized models and AI security capabilities, turning research into production systems that reach customers. We sit at the intersection of research and product, moving fast from idea to customer impact and setting up for growth.

Datadog is seeking a people-focused technical leader to mentor engineers and researchers, anchor early-stage work to concrete customer problems, and own end-to-end delivery of high-quality AI systems from exploration to

Qualifications

• Leadership experience managing engineers and applied scientists in a fast-moving domain.
• Deep expertise in AI/ML areas such as LLMs, RAG, semantic search, or NLP.
• Strong evaluation mindset for offline benchmarks and online metrics.
• Ability to anchor early-stage work in customer problems and define success criteria.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of engineers and applied scientists focused on cost-efficient specialized models and AI security capabilities.
• Collaborate with product managers, research teams, and cross-functional partners to shape bets from framing to adoption.
• Own end-to-end delivery of AI systems from early research to production-grade reliability.
• Define quality standards and guide offline and online evaluation pipelines to measure quality and detect drift.
• Drive cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing across the AI organization.
• Support career growth through coaching, feedback, and hiring contributions.

Skills

People management

AI/ML expertise

Technical leadership

Education

MS/PhD in ML/CS/Engineering

Tools

Python

ML frameworks

Job description

Applied AI is where Datadog's ambitious AI bets get built and shipped (Bits Chat, updog). We sit at the intersection of research and product: turning promising capabilities from Datadog AI Research lab and the research community into production systems that reach real customers. The team builds specialized models that replace frontier models where they are not necessary, making AI capabilities faster, cheaper, and more secure. The mandate is to move fast from idea to customer impact, and when a product finds its footing, to set it up for growth.

What You'll Do

• Lead and develop a team of engineers and applied scientists focused on cost‑efficient specialized models and AI security capabilities
• Work closely with product managers, research teams, and cross‑functional partners to shape the team's bets from initial framing through to broader adoption, with a clear definition of success criteria at each stage
• Own end‑to‑end delivery of high‑quality AI systems, from early research exploration to production‑grade reliability, with high standards for operational excellence, system reliability, and technical quality
• Navigate the unique challenges of shipping AI‑powered products: balancing quality, latency, cost, and safety considerations. Drive evaluation and iteration practices for AI systems: define the quality bar and guide the team in building the offline and online evaluation pipelines needed to measure quality and detect drift
• Contribute to cross‑team collaboration and knowledge sharing across the broader AI organization
• Support career growth for engineers through coaching, feedback, and fostering a culture of experimentation, innovation, and learning. Participate in hiring and help shape the future team as the organization grows

Who You Are

• A people‑focused manager with experience leading and mentoring engineers, able to develop strong engineering talent in a fast‑moving domain
• A technical leader with deep expertise in one or more areas of AI or machine learning: large language models, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), semantic search, agentic systems, deep learning, or NLP
• Well‑versed in evaluation methodologies for AI systems, both offline benchmarks and online metrics
• A strong product instinct: able to anchor early‑stage work in concrete customer problems, define success criteria before writing code, and actively contribute to shaping product direction alongside product and research partners
• Experience taking AI products from 0 to 1 is strongly valued: able to bring structure to early‑stage work by scoping clear hypotheses, moving quickly toward signal, and making deliberate decisions about what to pursue, pivot, or stop
• BS/MS/PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent professional experience

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.

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