Design Manager I, Modern Compute

We’re looking for a Design Manager to lead and grow the team responsible for Modern Compute, a core part of our infrastructure monitoring suite. This includes containerization technologies like Kubernetes, serverless environments, and real-time visibility into processes running inside containers and hosts. Containerization observability is evolving fast, so while a solid foundation in cloud computing concepts is helpful, we are looking for someone that is excited and curious about this space, and has experience learning new technologies first-hand. We design tools that give engineers access to real-time data about their Infrastructure, applications and functions to troubleshoot problems and improve performance. Our designers know how to creatively display dense, high cardinality data in both tabular and visual ways.

As a Design Manager you’ll lead and grow talented teams of designers and help ensure the right balance of skills and sub-disciplines on your design teams through mentorship and hiring. You’ll help define new products, lay the groundwork for new and exciting experiences, and help scale the design organization with new systems and processes. You will also partner with ENG, PM and other design teams to deliver UX strategy that significantly improves product experiences.The team is made up of full-stack designers, owning all aspects of our work from research, prototyping, polish, and visual design—and we collaborate closely with engineers on implementation.
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 and develop a team of Product Designers.
• Recruit and retain top design talent, fostering a team culture that supports growth and collaboration.
• Provide guidance on design practices, prioritization, strategy, and career development.
• Oversee your team's projects, ensuring alignment with broader business and product objectives.
• Work closely with other team leads, product managers, and engineers to refine products and improve processes.
• Establish goals with your product and engineering counterparts to focus on developing high-impact features.
• Create an environment that promotes strong teamwork across functions and maintains a high standard of design quality.
• Drive product strategy, empowering your team to develop solutions that address complex challenges.
• Utilize and contribute to the company’s design systems, ensuring consistency and evolution in design practices.

Who You Are:

• Experienced in designing and managing technical SaaS products.
• Have managed multiple design teams and individuals for 2+ years
• Bring at least 8 years of experience in digital product design, with a strong portfolio that includes substantial interaction design for web applications.
• Skilled in setting team goals and prioritizing features that align with business needs.
• Effective at giving and receiving feedback, enhancing the work environment and team collaborations.
• Possess excellent teamwork, communication, and technical problem-solving skills to contribute to multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated leadership in guiding teams through the full design process from concept to launch, with minimal oversight.
• Maintain a growth mindset, actively seeking learning opportunities and new challenges.
• Able to clearly articulate design decisions and strategies that are grounded in human-centered design principles and data.
• Experienced in high-level design thinking across multiple design disciplines, with a proven ability to envision long-term goals and focus efforts to achieve them.
• Efficient in optimizing team workflows and processes to enhance team output and collaboration.
• Known for balancing fast iteration, strategic ambiguity, and high-quality outcomes in a dynamic business environment.

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.

Datadog offers a competitive salary and equity package, and may include variable compensation. Actual compensation is based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience. In addition, Datadog offers a wide range of best in class, comprehensive and inclusive employee benefits for this role including healthcare, dental, parental planning, and mental health benefits, a 401(k) plan and match, paid time off, fitness reimbursements, and a discounted employee stock purchase plan.