Research Manager - Post-Training for Observability Native Models

As a Research Manager within Datadog AI Research (DAIR), you will lead a team working on fundamental research in post-training and multimodal observability-native decision models while remaining deeply engaged in the technical direction of the work. You will advance post-training approaches, simulated environments, synthetic data generation, and evaluation methods for agents operating across complex real-world systems. You will provide technical leadership to a team of research scientists and engineers, mentor and develop highly technical talent, shape research direction, and collaborate with Datadog’s product and engineering teams to translate research advances into products. This role is designed for an exceptional researcher or technical leader who wants to maintain a strong hands-on research identity while developing and leading a high-performing team.

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:

• Lead post-training research for multimodal decision models and hybrid decision/generative systems to address ambitious research challenges in observability and security.
• Guide and mentor researchers and research engineers while remaining closely involved in research strategy, experimentation, model development, and technical problem-solving
• Design and advance post-training methods and training loops for models operating in complex environments
• Build simulated environments, synthetic data generation approaches, and evaluation frameworks that enable scalable model training and rigorous measurement
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams across Research, Product, and Engineering to translate research advances into scalable Datadog capabilities
• Share research findings with external audiences upon reaching significant project milestones.

Who You Are:

• You hold a PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field, or have equivalent experience, with deep expertise in areas such as AI agents, decision models, post-training, or generative modeling
• You have demonstrated the ability to lead technically ambitious research at meaningful scale, whether in an industry research lab, startup, academic environment, or another research setting
• You have extensive hands-on experience designing or implementing training methods, simulated environments, synthetic data pipelines, or evaluation frameworks
• You have a track record of research impact through influential publications, significant model or system contributions, widely used research artifacts, or equivalent technical achievements
• You have operated at a senior technical level and have experience leading, mentoring, and developing teams of researchers or engineers, while remaining deeply hands-on in technical direction and execution
• You want to develop and support a research team while maintaining a strong technical identity, and you can communicate complex research findings effectively across technical and non-technical audiences

Datadog values people from all walks of life. We know 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 experience, we encourage you to apply.

Benefits and Growth: 

• Competitive global benefits 
• New hire stock equity (RSUs) and employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)
• Opportunity to collaborate closely with colleagues across the Datadog offices in New York City and Paris 
• Opportunity to attend and present at conferences and meetups 
• Intra-departmental mentor and buddy program for in-house networking
• An inclusive company culture, ability to join our Community Guilds (Datadog employee resource groups) 
  
  

Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog.

#LI-Hybrid

The reasonably estimated yearly salary for this role at Datadog is: 244000 - 305000 USD