Director, User Research - Product Design

Datadog; New York (NY); On-site; USD 220,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

New hire stock equity (RSUs)

Professional development and training

Inclusive culture and resource groups

Global mental health benefits

Competitive global benefits

Job summary

Datadog is seeking a Research Leader in New York to define the evolution of their research practice. You will lead a team, integrating human insights with quantitative methodologies to drive impactful products. The role encompasses strategic mentoring while ensuring insights are actionable within product development cycles.

The ideal candidate will have 10-15+ years in user research or product design, along with a proven ability to influence product direction and metrics. Datadog offers a competitive salary and a range of benefits, including stock equity and professional development opportunities.

Qualifications

• 10-15+ years in user research or product design with high-performing teams.
• Proficient in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
• Proven track record of influencing product direction and business metrics.

Responsibilities

• Grow, manage and mentor a talented group of researchers.
• Establish a Mixed-Methods Practice for analyzing insights.
• Define inquiry methods to scale research capabilities.
• Accountability for business metrics influenced by research.
• Build AI tools as research collaborators.

Skills

User research expertise

Team management

Mixed-methods practice

AI integration in research

Job description

Datadog is hiring a Research leader to define the next evolution of our research practice. You will lead a group that integrates human insights with quantitative depth and AI-driven synthesis to build the right products for our customers while driving measurable business impact. At Datadog, we help customers visualize and troubleshoot complex, distributed systems at scale and keep them healthy. As the Director of User Research, you will lead the charge in transforming dense technical signals into human-centric experiences by establishing a research culture that is fast, actionable, and deeply integrated into our product development lifecycle.

In this role, you will build a lean, high-impact team of researchers while simultaneously empowering our entire design and product organization with the methods and tools needed to deeply understand customer pain points and motivations. You will be responsible for moving the team beyond tactical, project-level work toward strategic influence that drives measurable business outcomes.

What you’ll do:

• Grow, manage and mentor a talented group of researchers to operate at the frontier of the field.
• Establish a Mixed-Methods Practice ensuring researchers can analyze product telemetry and statistical data ("the what") alongside qualitative insights ("the why").
• Scale Research Capabilities by defining inquiry methods and teaching the broader organization (designers and PMs) how to use them to run deep, insight-driven probes.
• Take accountability for the business metrics influenced by research findings. You will be expected to demonstrate business impact through the work that you lead.
• Build the foundation for AI as a research collaborator, using tools like custom GPTs and synthetic personas to accelerate synthesis and provide real-time deliverables.
• Collaborate with the Head of Design, design and cross functional leaders to establish roadmaps and ensure research insights are grounded in both technical reality and user needs.

Who You Are:

• 10-15+ years in user research or product design, with experience building and managing high-performing teams.
• Proficient in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, with the ability to size and validate behavioral patterns using data.
• Proven track record of moving research beyond "usability testing" to impacting product direction and business metrics.
• Comfortable navigating the technical complexities of modern software development and infrastructure.
• Excited by the potential of AI to transform how research is conducted, synthesized, and shared.

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

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.

The reasonably estimated yearly salary for this role at Datadog is: $220,000 — $320,000 USD

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.