for Startups Engineering Lead - San Francisco, California, USA
1 day ago
Job description
The Datadog for Startups (DDFS) program helps the next generation of fast-scaling companies adopt best-in-class observability and security from day one. As the DDFS Engineering Lead, you'll combine technical sales engineering expertise with ecosystem growth leadership to attract top startups into the program, showcase Datadog's value early, and position Datadog as an essential platform for scaling.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of startups, business development, technical evangelism, and software engineering—comfortable running a discovery call with a CTO one day, hosting a founder networking event the next, and even helping startups get Datadog instrumented quickly.
What You'll Do:
1. Technical Sales Engineering & Forward-Deployed Engineering (FDE) project management
Validate startup technical needs and current tooling during pre-program discovery.
Deliver tailored demos that highlight Datadog's differentiators, quick wins, and startup relevance (AI, infra scaling, security).
Answer competitive engineering questions and position Datadog effectively against alternatives.
Create urgency for adoption so startups realize value quickly within their credits period.
Ensure a smooth technical onboarding experience by removing friction and showcasing "aha" moments.
Help manage FDE engineering projects that are embedded directly with client sites, deeply understanding workflows, pain points, and business processes.
Implement Datadog for clients, troubleshoot issues or connect clients to those in Datadog who can support.
Translate technical details for business stakeholders and communicate customer needs back to product/engineering teams.
2. Ecosystem Growth & Awareness
Represent Datadog for Startups at key events (accelerator demo days, hackathons, conferences).
Host or co-host startup-focused webinars, dinners, workshops, and founder roundtables.
Develop messaging, collateral, and thought leadership for founders and technical teams.
Drive inbound interest and applications through community-building efforts.
Work with the SF DDFS Lead to build and manage relationships with accelerators, VCs, and other ecosystem partners.
Host office hours with select referral partner portfolio companies to actively communicate DDFS perks to their portfolios.
3. DDFS Program Improvements
Help the DDFS team automate processes across the full lifecycle of startup sourcing to conversion across internal tools such as Salesforce, Marketo, etc.
Who You Are:
Must-Haves
5–7 years in sales engineering, solutions architecture, technical BD, forward-deployed engineer, software engineering at a SaaS/cloud company.
Strong understanding of modern startup tech stacks, including cloud infrastructure, application frameworks, data platforms, and developer tooling
Proven experience engaging with startups, founders, VCs, technical decision-makers and audiences.
Excellent communication skills: equally effective in technical deep-dives and business-level storytelling.
Builder: eager to shape a hybrid BD + technical role in a fast-scaling program while also able to get hands on and build both for DDFS and with startups using Datadog.
Storyteller: able to translate technical differentiators into startup-relevant business value.
Startup advocate: passionate about helping early-stage companies scale successfully with Datadog.
Nice-to-Haves
Strong knowledge of Datadog's product suite and observability/security ecosystem.
A former technical founder or engineering leader at a startup.
Experience running or speaking at startup/technical events.
Background in developer advocacy, community building, or technical marketing.
Knowledge of VC/accelerator ecosystems and startup go-to-market motion.
Hands-on ability to articulate Datadog's differentiators against competitors (Grafana, Sentry, Clickhouse, New Relic, etc.)
CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot) and ability to manage demand-generation workflows.
Why Join Us:
Be at the forefront of Datadog's engagement with the global startup ecosystem.
Shape a high-impact program where technical expertise and community growth intersect.
Help the next wave of unicorns adopt world-class observability, security, and performance tooling from day one.
Benefits and Growth:
New hire stock equity (RSUs) and employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)
Intradepartmental mentor and buddy program for in-house networking
An inclusive company culture, including Community Guilds (employee resource groups)
Access to Inclusion Talks and internal panel discussions
Free, global Spring Health benefits for employees and dependents age 6+
Competitive global benefits and giving programs
Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of employment and the nature of employment with Datadog.
#LI-Hybrid
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