Senior Datadog Architect

Datadog Architect (Remote – US Only)

12+ Month Contract | Up to $75/hr W2 | US Citizenship Required

**3rd party resumes will not be considered**

We are seeking an experienced Datadog Architect to design, implement, and optimize enterprise-level observability solutions across cloud, container, mainframe, and hybrid environments. This fully remote contract role supports a long-term transformation of monitoring and reliability capabilities across a large, distributed ecosystem.

Overview

As the Datadog Architect, you will lead the architecture, deployment, governance, and optimization of the Datadog platform. This role works closely with Cloud, DevOps, SRE, Application, and Security teams to drive end-to-end observability across Azure, Kubernetes, microservices, and on-prem systems. You will define monitoring standards, automate instrumentation, establish tagging governance, and ensure visibility across mission-critical services.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture & Design

• Architect end-to-end Datadog observability frameworks across Azure, Kubernetes, containers, and on-prem workloads.
• Define SLIs/SLOs, dashboards, alerting strategy, tagging governance, and monitoring standards.
• Design and architect end-to-end integrations for Mainframe platforms.
• Build scalable log ingestion pipelines, retention strategies, and cost-optimized indexing models.
• Develop patterns for APM instrumentation across microservices, serverless, and distributed systems.

Implementation & Optimization

• Deploy Datadog agents, integrations, and custom checks across large, complex environments.
• Configure APM, RUM, Logs, SIEM, Synthetics, NPM, and CI/CD Observability.
• Partner with DevOps, SRE, Cloud, and Application teams to ensure complete service visibility.
• Continuously optimize Datadog usage, retention, indexing, and billing for cost efficiency.

Governance & Best Practices

• Establish enterprise-wide observability standards, tagging frameworks, alerting guardrails, and onboarding guidelines.
• Build reusable Terraform modules and automation tooling for Datadog deployment.
• Ensure alignment with security and compliance requirements.
• Provide training, mentoring, and enablement on dashboards, logs, traces, and alerting best practices.

Troubleshooting & Insights

• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) using metrics, traces, logs, and event correlation.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to enhance system reliability, resilience, and performance.
• Identify and close gaps in monitoring coverage and observability maturity.

Required Skills & Experience

• 12+ years in Observability, Monitoring, SRE, DevOps, or Cloud Engineering.
• 6+ years of hands-on experience with Datadog in enterprise environments.
• Strong understanding of microservices, distributed systems, and cloud-native architectures.
• Expertise with Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP a plus).
• Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code, especially Terraform.
• Deep experience with APM, Metrics, Logs, RUM, Synthetics, SIEM/Security Monitoring.
• Strong command of dashboards, alerting, service maps, event correlation, and notebooks within Datadog.
• Scripting experience in Python, Bash, or similar languages.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• US Citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Datadog Certifications (APM, Log Management, Observability, etc.)
• Experience with Retail observability environments.
• CI/CD observability across GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, etc.
• Background in Performance Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or Platform Engineering.

Why Apply?

• Fully remote role supporting a major enterprise observability program
• Long-term 12+ month contract with extension potential
• Competitive pay up to $75/hr W2
• High-impact role shaping monitoring strategy across cloud and mainframe platforms