This role is part of Datadog’s Security Agent team, which powers critical security capabilities across Workload Protection, Vulnerability Management, Cloud Security products, and other emerging security offerings. As a Staff Software Engineer, you will lead the design and development of low-level Linux instrumentation and runtime security technologies that help customers detect threats, monitor system activity, and protect cloud-native workloads at scale. You will work on complex technical challenges involving eBPF, Linux kernel internals, performance-sensitive systems, and large-scale data collection while influencing technical direction across multiple product teams. This role offers significant ownership, broad organizational impact, and the opportunity to shape the future of Datadog’s security platform.
At Datadog, we value our office culture – the relationships and collaboration it builds and the creativity it brings. We operate as a hybrid workplace to ensure our Datadogs can create a work-life harmony that best fits them.
What You'll Do:
- Lead the architecture and development of security agent capabilities that power runtime threat detection and workload protection across Datadog Security products.
- Design and build reusable eBPF-based monitoring functionality for process, file, and network visibility within Linux environments.
- Drive end-to-end delivery of new features, from technical strategy and design through implementation, testing, and rollout.
- Establish and evolve testing methodologies that improve platform coverage, detection quality, reliability, and performance.
- Partner with product, security, infrastructure, and engineering teams to deliver shared platform capabilities used across multiple Datadog products.
- Provide technical leadership by influencing engineering direction, mentoring peers, and helping resolve complex cross-functional challenges.
Who You Are:
- You have significant experience building software in Linux environments, including knowledge of Linux internals, kernel APIs, or systems programming.
- You have hands-on experience with eBPF, kernel-level instrumentation, driver development, networking systems, agent development, or related low-level technologies.
- You've built and run systems where performance and reliability actually matter.
- You have experience building and maintaining production software across diverse Linux distributions and kernel versions.
- You are product-minded and customer-focused, balancing technical excellence with customer impact and usability.
- You have demonstrated technical leadership, influencing architecture and execution across teams while communicating effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Datadog values people from all walks of life. We understand not everyone will meet all the above qualifications on day one. That's okay. If you’re passionate about technology and want to grow your skills, we encourage you to apply.
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)
- Competitive global benefits
- Giving programs
Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog.
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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.
Datadog endeavors to make our Careers Page accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please complete this form. This form is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.
Privacy and AI Guidelines:
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 Interviewing at Datadog AI Guidelines.
Skills Required
- Significant experience building software in Linux environments, including Linux internals, kernel APIs, or systems programming
- Hands-on experience with eBPF, kernel-level instrumentation, driver development, networking systems, or related low-level technologies
- Experience building and running performance- and reliability-sensitive systems in production
- Experience building and maintaining production software across diverse Linux distributions and kernel versions
- Product-minded and customer-focused with ability to balance technical excellence and usability
- Demonstrated technical leadership influencing architecture and execution across teams and communicating with technical and non-technical stakeholders
What the Team is Saying
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Datadog Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage paired with dedicated mental‑health access (including free annual sessions for employees and dependents) and gender‑affirming care indicates robust healthcare support. Fitness reimbursements further reinforce preventative wellness.
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Parental & Family Support — Fully paid, gender‑neutral parental leave alongside family‑forming support (adoption, fertility, preservation, surrogacy) and childcare assistance shows strong backing for growing families. Pet‑related assistance in eligible offices expands family‑oriented offerings.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — An employee stock purchase plan with a discount and RSUs for many roles broaden access to ownership. This equity mix enhances total rewards beyond base pay.
Datadog Insights
What We Do
Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG) is a global SaaS business, delivering a rare combination of growth and profitability. We are on a mission to break down silos and solve complexity in the cloud age by enabling digital transformation, cloud migration, and infrastructure monitoring of our customers' entire technology stacks. Built by engineers, for engineers, Datadog is used by organizations of all sizes across a wide range of industries. Together, we champion professional development, diversity of thought, innovation, and work excellence to empower continuous growth. Join the pack and become part of a collaborative, pragmatic, and thoughtful people-first community where we solve tough problems, take smart risks, and celebrate one another.
Why Work With Us
At Datadog, we learn from and celebrate each other daily - each win is a team win. Datadogs solve tough problems, innovate pragmatically, and grow together. We promote from within, provide mentorship and opportunities for career development, and support our colleagues in the process. Best of all? We truly love what we do.
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Datadog Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
We operate as a hybrid workplace to ensure our Datadogs can create a work-life harmony that best fits them and their team.
