Senior Software Engineer - Streaming Platform Client

Dormont Manufacturing Co; United States; On-site; USD 192,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

New hire stock equity (RSUs)

Continuous professional development

Free global mental health benefits

Job summary

Datadog is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join the Streaming Platform Client team, focused on building and optimizing core infrastructure that handles high-throughput messaging. You’ll implement resilient client interactions, champion developer experience, and lead critical technical projects.

The ideal candidate is proficient in low-level languages like Rust, excels in collaborative settings, and is committed to enhancing user experience. The role offers a hybrid workplace to foster work-life harmony.

Qualifications

• Strong proficiency in low-level languages, preferably Rust.
• Experience with performance optimization and debugging systems.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement interactions between client libraries and control plane.
• Optimize high-throughput, low-level streaming library.
• Lead technical projects with end-to-end accountability.

Skills

Low-level programming languages (ideally Rust)

Performance optimization

Complex system debugging

User experience commitment

Collaboration

Tools

Large-scale streaming systems (e.g., Kafka)

Job description

Senior Software Engineer - Streaming Platform Client

Data streams are mission‑critical at Datadog, powering near real‑time communication across the vast majority of our services. Our Streaming Platform group builds the core infrastructure and abstractions that ensure Datadog remains a trusted partner for engineers worldwide. See our blog post.

The Streaming Platform Client team sits at the heart of this ecosystem. We own the Rust client library (producers and consumers) with language bindings for Java, Go, and Python. We focus on building intuitive APIs and abstractions that make a powerful distributed system easy to adopt and operate for the hundreds of internal users of our library.

Our library runs on critical data paths that handle hundreds of millions of messages per second making performance, observability, and reliability paramount. We also develop and operate the service that bridges the clients fleet with the platform’s control plane, handling complex balancing, scaling, and static stability challenges.

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to help us evolve these features. You will collaborate directly with our users, tackle performance‑critical code, and solve complex distributed systems challenges across the control plane, client libraries, and data plane.

At Datadog, we place value in our office culture – the relationships and collaboration it builds and the creativity it brings to the table. We operate as a hybrid workplace to ensure our Datadogs can create a work‑life harmony that best fits them.

What You’ll Do

• Architect and implement resilient interactions between our client libraries and the control plane.
• Optimize our high‑throughput, low‑level streaming library to push the boundaries of performance and efficiency.
• Champion the developer experience by providing exceptional support, technical documentation, and proactive troubleshooting for our wide user base.
• Lead high‑stakes technical projects, maintaining end‑to‑end accountability for their delivery and quality.
• Collaborate with partner teams on delivering projects wider than your team’s scope.
• Mentor junior engineers and interns, fostering a culture of technical excellence and shared knowledge.

Who You Are

• You are a self‑starter who experiments methodically, iterates rapidly, and views failure as a learning opportunity.
• You are a finisher who takes the projects through the finish line and does not stop at shipping code.
• You thrive in collaborative environments, championing a blameless culture and actively fostering the growth of your teammates.
• You communicate complex ideas effectively, with experience gathering requirements from stakeholders and leading high‑impact technical initiatives.
• You are deeply committed to user experience, ensuring the tools you build empower developers.
• You have strong proficiency in low‑level languages (ideally Rust).
• You have a passion for deep‑dive investigations, particularly in performance optimization and debugging complex systems.
• You are curious about AI and actively leverage it to enhance your development workflow.
• Bonus: Direct experience operating or using large‑scale streaming systems like Kafka.
• Bonus: Familiarity with language bindings and FFI.

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

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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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 the Interviewing at Datadog AI Guidelines.

$192,000—$240,000 USD