Senior Software Engineer - Distributed Systems (Applied AI)
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Four to five stages over three to eight weeks, run as a centralized company-wide loop with team matching only AFTER you pass: a 30-minute recruiter screen, a 60-minute CoderPad phone screen (new grads get a 60-90-minute HackerRank assessment instead), then a ~4-hour onsite of two pair-programming coding rounds, an observability-flavored system design round that feeds leveling, and a hiring-manager behavioral. Questions come from an internal bank — LeetCode-medium cores wrapped in Datadog-shaped practicalities (log parsing, time-series, metrics aggregation) — and the official AI policy bans AI tools in live coding unless a round is explicitly designated an AI coding interview. Some roles add a take-home project or a final executive interview, and the official process expects one step in person (in Paris that's a half-day office visit).
Read the full Datadog interview process →Description
At Datadog, Batch Engineering owns something most engineers only dream about: a domain. They are responsible for the systems that apply signal finding models at scale, and are looking for a senior backend engineer to own and grow this space from our Paris hub.
You'd be architecting the scalable systems that power both internal data science and external customers, while building influence over a team that's tackling real, meaty infrastructure problems every day. The core here is Kafka and Flink while collaborating with data scientists on signal systems that work at scale. Most backend engineers work in one or the other; you'd own both end-to-end.
At Datadog, we place value in our office culture - the relationships that it builds, the creativity it brings to the table, and the collaboration of being together. We operate as a hybrid workplace to ensure our employees can create a work-life harmony that best fits them.
What You’ll Do
- Design, build, and operate the backend systems that apply signal finding models at scale for internal data science teams and external customers.
- Own Kafka and Flink components end to end, from architecture and implementation through production reliability, performance, and evolution.
- Partner with data scientists to turn models and signal requirements into robust production workflows.
- Improve the scalability, observability, and operational resilience of data processing systems as usage grows.
- Lead technical decisions in your domain, collaborate across engineering teams, and help other engineers grow through design reviews and mentorship.
Who You Are
- You have significant backend engineering experience building and operating distributed systems in production.
- You have hands-on experience with Kafka and Flink, including designing or improving data processing pipelines at scale.
- You can reason through tradeoffs in throughput, latency, reliability, and maintainability, and turn those decisions into clear designs and working code.
- You enjoy collaborating with data scientists and engineering partners to translate open-ended requirements into dependable systems.
- You can take ownership of a technical area while sharing context, reviewing designs, and supporting the growth of teammates.
- You’re curious about using AI tools to improve how you build software and able to evaluate their output critically.
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)
- Access to Inclusion Talks, our internal panel discussions
- Free, global mental health benefits for employees and dependents age 6+
- Competitive global benefits
Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog.
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.
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