Distinguished Architect, AI

About the role

The Distinguished Architect will lead the Technical Solutions (TS) organization in bridging the gap between AI/LLM labs and Datadog’s technology roadmap, ensuring Datadog’s platform is a native solution for the unique observability challenges of training and deploying foundational models at scale.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate thought leadership in the AI/LLM space, influencing key decision makers and stakeholders through technical capabilities and organizational impact.
• Strategically partner with Founders, Heads of Infrastructure, and Research Leads, guiding them on best practices and emerging industry trends in AI/LLM.
• Lead deep-dive architecture reviews and design engagements with customer teams and their leaders, sharing industry trends, best practices, and demonstrating how Datadog supports high-throughput, hyper-scale AI workloads.
• Identify emerging AI-native technology shifts and feed them directly to Datadog Product Management. Co-create custom observability integrations and solutions with Product SAs to stay at the forefront of the AI stack.
• Collaborate with PSA, Sales, Sales Engineering, and Marketing to provide high-quality technical resources to practitioners and economic buyers.
• Assist leadership in recruiting and hiring top talent for the Product Solutions Architecture and Field CTO teams.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience with at-scale distributed systems architecture, high-performance computing, or large-scale infrastructure.
• Deep familiarity with the AI/LLM ecosystem, accelerator hardware (GPUs/TPUs), and modern orchestration frameworks.
• Able to think long-term and creatively about technical and business challenges.
• Proven experience interacting with and influencing elite individual contributors, research scientists, and technical founders in flat, rapid-growth environments.
• A true close-to-the-metal technologist with hands-on credibility, maintaining deep understanding of best practices and real-world challenges in AI/LLM operations and observability.
• Excellent customer-facing presentation skills for large audiences, comfortable discussing complex technical details and executive-level briefings.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, linking product functionality to business objectives, value realization, and ROI.
• Able to travel up to 50% of the time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field, Master's degree preferred.

Skills

• Strong understanding of best practices and real-world challenges in AI/LLM operations and observability (LLMO).

Benefits and Growth

Best-in-breed onboarding, generous global benefits, intra-departmental mentor and buddy program, new hire stock equity (RSUs), employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), continuous professional development, product training, and career pathing. Inclusive company culture with opportunities to join community guilds and inclusion talks. Competitive salary and equity package, along with a wide range of benefits including healthcare, dental, parental planning, mental health benefits, a 401(k) plan, and a discounted employee stock purchase plan.