Staff Software Engineer LinuxKernel

The eBPF APM team builds Datadogs zero-instrumentation observability platform enabling automatic service discovery Layer 7 protocol classification traffic decoding and high-fidelity RED (requests errors duration) metrics from both plaintext and TLS-encrypted trafficwithout requiring customer code changes.

This work spans kernel-space eBPF user-space Go services and large-scale distributed systems operating reliably across diverse Linux kernels distributions runtimes and real-world production environments. The team tackles challenges in protocol evolution TLS detection across languages and frameworks and performance-critical data collection at scale.

We are looking for a Staff Engineer who will act as a technical owner and multiplierdriving architecture influencing the roadmap and ensuring our APM platform remains robust scalable and easy to adopt as Datadog and our customers grow.

At Datadog Staff Engineers are expected to deliver impact through technical leadership not just individual contribution. This role offers the opportunity to shape a foundational observability product used at massive scale.

Datadog operates as a hybrid workplace valuing in-person collaboration while supporting work-life balance.

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 Youll Do:

• Own major technical areas of the zero-instrumentation APM system from design through long-term evolution and operational maturity
• Define and drive architecture for kernel-level traffic capture L7 protocol decoding and metric extraction using eBPF and Go
• Lead high-impact initiatives addressing protocol parsing TLS visibility kernel compatibility and performance at scale
• Set technical direction and standards for reliability performance and maintainability across the team
• Partner cross-functionally with Agent Tracing Security Runtime and Product teams to align on system design and roadmap priorities

Who You Are:

• You have deep experience in backend or systems engineering with strong proficiency in Go and/or C/C
• You are comfortable operating close to the Linux kernel with experience in eBPF networking observability or similarly low-level systems
• You consistently think at a system and organizational scale making thoughtful tradeoffs between performance correctness velocity and long-term sustainability
• You have built evolved or operated large-scale production systems in complex and heterogeneous environments
• You demonstrate technical leadership without relying on authorityyou influence architecture unblock teams and raise the technical bar through collaboration
• You have a strong bias for performance efficiency and reliability especially in resource-constrained or performance-sensitive contexts
• You thrive in ambiguity and take ownership of ill-defined high-impact problems
• You are excited to leverage AI-assisted development tools to improve productivity code quality and system design - or are eager to learn

Datadog values people from all walks of life. We understand not everyone will meet all the above qualifications on day one. Thats okay. If youre 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.

Required Experience:

Staff IC