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Salary: USD 204,000 - 255,000 / annual
Datadog is seeking a Senior Design Manager to lead a team of four designers focused on AI monitoring and management products. This role sits at the intersection of AI infrastructure, observability, and developer tools—a rapidly evolving space with few established patterns.
You will own the design strategy and execution across three connected product areas: Agent Observability, GPU Monitoring, and Agent Console. Your responsibilities include:
• Going deep on domain expertise in AI training/development workflows, model evaluations, GPU infrastructure, and agent debugging to develop independent, well-informed product perspectives
• Driving end-to-end product experiences and ensuring coherence across the three product surfaces
• Prototyping and shipping directly in code (using tools like Claude Code or Cursor) where it has the most impact, demonstrating direction and quality standards
• Leading and coaching a team of four designers, raising their craft, product thinking, and fluency with AI-native tools
• Conducting regular 1:1s and career conversations; fostering psychological safety and a culture of continuous improvement
• Partnering with Product and Engineering leadership to shape strategy, prioritization, and roadmap direction
• Setting and maintaining a high bar for design quality across interaction design, visual design, coded prototypes, and user testing; leading design critiques within the domain
This is a leadership role built around modern, AI-native design practice. You'll lead a team that builds directly in code rather than handing off static mocks, and you should have the capability to prototype and ship yourself where it has the most impact.
Requirements:
• 10+ years in product design roles, with 3+ years in a design management or leadership position
• Portfolio demonstrating end-to-end product design ownership and deep domain expertise in at least one complex area
• Demonstrated ability to take an existing product area and visibly uplevel its craft and product ownership
• Strong communication and influence skills; able to partner effectively with senior-level PMs and Engineers
• Experience designing complex, data-heavy products
• Capability to prototype and ship directly in code (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar), and comfort leading a team that works the same way
• Demonstrated ability to mentor designers and raise their craft through coaching and example
• Nice to have: experience designing developer tools, AI/ML products, or observability platforms, and comfort with ambiguity in a rapidly evolving space
