Forward-Deployed Engineering Leader: Scale Field Delivery

Datadog, Inc.; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Dental

Parental planning

Mental health benefits

401(k) plan and match

Paid time off

Fitness reimbursements

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

Datadog's Forward Deployed Engineering function is growing. The FDE Lead will shape the program, define the framework, and build scalable structures to extend reach beyond a single customer segment, in collaboration with the Head of Datadog for Startups and FDE team.

You will blend sales, execution, program design, and hands-on engineering leadership—acts as field technologist, program architect, and cross‑functional connector to drive deployments and customer value.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in forward deployed engineering, solutions architecture, software engineering, or related fields
• 2+ years in engineering management or technical leadership
• Scaled a technical program, practice, or function in a high-growth tech company
• Deep familiarity with cloud-native stacks and observability platforms; Datadog experience is a plus
• Excellent cross‑functional communication and willingness to travel

Responsibilities

• Evolve and scale the FDE operating model end to end (engagement intake, scoping, sprint delivery, handoff, success metrics)
• Build a catalog of FDE offerings (observability quickstarts, custom integrations, AI accelerators) and contribute to pricing
• Capture product gaps and translate into briefs; partner with PM and Engineering on roadmap inputs
• Hire, onboard, and develop FDEs; build assessment frameworks and mentor the team
• Identify high-value mini‑product opportunities and drive lightweight engineering sprints
• Partner with Sales, SE, CS, and BD to identify accounts for FDE and represent the function in reviews

Skills

Forward Deployed Engineering

Solutions architecture

Software engineering

Customer-facing

Cloud-native stacks

Tools

Kubernetes

AWS

GCP

Azure

Microservices

CI/CD pipelines

Infrastructure as Code

Job description

Datadog's Forward Deployed Engineering function is growing. The FDE Lead will shape the program, define the framework, and build scalable structures to extend reach beyond a single customer segment, in collaboration with the Head of Datadog for Startups and FDE team.

You will blend sales, execution, program design, and hands-on engineering leadership—acts as field technologist, program architect, and cross‑functional connector to drive deployments and customer value.