Role Overview

Datadog's MCP Services team is at the forefront of AI innovation, building the interface that powers intelligent agent interactions with our world-class observability platform. As a Staff AI Engineer - MCP Services in Lisbon, Portugal, you'll lead the evolution of agent-friendly tool surfaces that enable both external AI agents (Claude, Cursor) and internal Datadog AI agents to seamlessly access metrics, logs, incidents, and more. This high-impact role involves pioneering advanced evaluation frameworks, shaping agent-tool interaction models, and driving agentic workflows that transform how engineers interact with cloud infrastructure data.

Working in a hybrid environment in Lisbon, you'll collaborate with Applied AI teams to solve ambiguous challenges in the rapidly evolving agentic AI space. Datadog's MCP platform is becoming the standard for AI-agent integration with enterprise observability, and you'll play a pivotal role in defining its future.

Key Responsibilities at Datadog

• Lead architecture and development of Datadog's public-facing MCP server, enabling intelligent agents to discover, understand, and interact with core observability services
• Design and implement agentic tool surfaces optimized for both rigorous evaluation frameworks and scalable production deployment across diverse AI agent ecosystems
• Build and maintain advanced evaluation pipelines that measure agent performance across critical Datadog workflows including investigations, incident triage, and complex metric queries
• Deep-dive into failure analysis by examining tool outputs, enhancing query parsing logic, and developing sophisticated agent feedback mechanisms
• Collaborate across Applied AI, product, and engineering teams to establish shared standards for tool integration and secure data access patterns
• Pioneer next-generation agent-tool interaction models that enable sophisticated agentic workflows spanning metrics, logs, traces, and incidents
• Investigate and resolve complex edge cases in agentic systems through systems-level debugging and performance optimization
• Drive technical leadership in high-ambiguity environments, defining roadmaps and autonomously prioritizing high-impact initiatives
• Contribute to the broader AI ecosystem by advancing MCP standards and agent-compatible tooling surfaces

Qualifications & Requirements

To succeed as a Staff AI Engineer at Datadog, you'll bring:

• 8+ years of engineering experience with staff-level impact, including deep expertise in applied AI, agentic programming, and LLM orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI)
• Proven experience building evaluation frameworks for LLM agents or complex AI systems, including custom metrics design, A/B testing methodologies, and comprehensive data instrumentation
• Demonstrated success thriving in high-ambiguity, fast-changing environments with the ability to define technical direction and prioritize autonomously
• Strong systems thinking with experience reasoning across multiple interdependent agents, tools, APIs, and complex user scenarios
• Deep technical expertise in LLM-powered automation pipelines, agent orchestration, tool-use systems, and evaluation of ReAct-style agentic loops
• Bonus: Direct experience with MCP standards, contributing to agent-compatible tooling surfaces, or building production agentic systems at scale

Datadog celebrates diverse backgrounds and encourages passionate technologists to apply even if you don't meet every qualification.

Salary & Benefits

Datadog offers competitive compensation packages for Staff AI Engineers in Lisbon, including:

• Base salary range: €120,000 - €180,000 (approx. $140K - $220K USD equivalent)
• Equity: New hire RSUs + Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Health: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision coverage for family
• Wellness: Fitness reimbursements, mental health support
• Learning: Professional development budget, conference attendance
• Hybrid Work: Lisbon office with flexible remote options
• Parental Leave: Generous paid family leave
• Commuter Benefits: Transportation and meal allowances

Why Join Datadog?

Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG) powers digital transformation for 20,000+ customers worldwide, from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. Our cloud observability platform breaks down silos across infrastructure, applications, logs, metrics, and security - and now AI agents. Join a profitable SaaS leader where:

• Engineers build for engineers in a collaborative, pragmatic culture
• You'll shape the future of agentic AI + observability at global scale
• Hybrid Lisbon office fosters creativity and work-life harmony
• Continuous growth through mentorship, internal mobility, and learning stipends
• Inclusive community celebrating diversity of thought and professional excellence

Follow #DatadogLife on Instagram and LinkedIn to see our vibrant culture.

How to Apply

Ready to pioneer AI-agent integration with the world's leading observability platform? Click 'Apply Now' to join Datadog's MCP Services team in Lisbon. We're hiring passionate AI engineers who thrive on ambiguity and want to build the future of agentic workflows.

Datadog is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.