Manager I, Engineering - Applied AI - Natural Language & Conversational Interfaces
About the position Datadog's Applied AI group is building the AI capabilities that transform how users interact with our platform. Our Natural Language Query (NLQ) and Command-I (Cmd-I) teams are at the forefront of this transformation, enabling users to query telemetry data, investigate production issues, and configure Datadog through natural language and intelligent conversational agents. As an Engineering Manager I in Applied AI, you will lead a team of engineers and applied scientists building natural language interfaces and conversational AI systems. Your teams will work on challenges spanning LLM-powered query translation, context-aware retrieval systems, agentic architectures, and evaluation frameworks. You will guide technical execution, support team growth, and collaborate across engineering, product, and research to deliver AI experiences that fundamentally change how customers use Datadog. At Datadog, we place value in 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. Responsibilities • Lead and develop a team of engineers and applied scientists building NLQ translation systems, conversational agents, or AI-powered interfaces • Own the delivery of high-quality natural language capabilities, from semantic understanding and contextual retrieval to query generation and agentic reasoning • Build products that create data flywheels: design systems that capture user intent and feedback to continuously improve model quality and train differentiating capabilities • Drive evaluation and iteration practices for AI systems, including building offline and online evaluation pipelines to measure quality and detect drift • Partner with product managers and cross-functional teams to expand AI capabilities across the Datadog platform • Navigate the unique challenges of shipping LLM-powered products: balancing accuracy, latency, cost, and safety considerations • Support career growth for engineers through coaching, feedback, and fostering a culture of experimentation, innovation, and learning • Drive day-to-day execution and promote high standards for operational excellence, system reliability, and technical quality • Participate in hiring and help shape the future team as the organization grows • Contribute to cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing across the broader AI organization Requirements • A technical leader with experience in AI, machine learning, or NLP systems • Proven experience building and shipping LLM-powered products, conversational AI, or natural language interfaces • A product builder who thinks beyond features, designing systems that generate data, learn from usage, and compound in value over time • Experience leading and mentoring engineers; ready to grow into broader leadership responsibilities • Strong technical expertise in one or more areas: large language models, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), semantic search, agentic systems, deep learning, or NLP • Comfortable working with Product to break down ambiguous problems, foster an experimental culture and iterate quickly on AI systems where quality is probabilistic • Familiarity with evaluation methodologies for AI systems, both offline benchmarks and online metrics • A people-focused manager able to develop and support strong engineering talent in a fast-moving domain • BS/MS/PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent professional experience Benefits • New hire stock equity (RSUs) and employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) • Continuous professional development, product training, and career pathing • An inclusive company culture with the ability to join Community Guilds (Datadog employee resource groups) • Free, global Spring Health benefits for employees and dependents age 6+ • 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. Apply tot his job