Staff Research Scientist - Post-training For Agents

Datadog · New York, New York, USA; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Datadog provides a SaaS platform for observability, monitoring, and security that helps organizations gain insight into their cloud infrastructure and applications. As a Staff Research Scientist focused on post-training for agents, you will conduct hands-on research that advances reinforcement learning techniques, designs training loops, and builds simulated environments and synthetic data pipelines for autonomous agents operating in complex, real-world systems. You will shape the technical direction of research programs, own problems from formulation through experimentation, model development, and evaluation, and establish standards for rigor across the team. The role includes mentoring researchers and engineers, reviewing research directions, and collaborating with product and engineering groups to translate findings into Datadog's observability and security offerings. You are also expected to publish results at top conferences, open-source key artifacts, and contribute to the broader research community. Ideal candidates hold a PhD in computer science, machine learning, or a related field, with deep expertise in reinforcement learning, AI agents, post-training methods, or generative modeling, a proven record of impactful research, and experience mentoring technical peers.

reinforcement learningpost-training methodsagent researchsimulated environmentssynthetic dataevaluation frameworksresearch mentorshipmachine learning

As a Staff Research Scientist within Datadog AI Research (DAIR), you will drive research in post-training and autonomous agents as a hands-on individual contributor. You will advance reinforcement learning, simulated environments, synthetic data generation, and evaluation methods for agents operating across complex real-world systems. You will set the technical direction for ambitious research programs, raise the technical bar for the researchers and research engineers around you, and collaborate with Datadog's product and engineering teams to translate research advances into products. What You'll Do: Drive research in agent post-training and reinforcement learning, shaping the technical direction of ambitious research programs grounded in observability and security Own research problems end to end, from framing the question through experimentation, model development, and evaluation Design and advance reinforcement learning approaches, post-training methods, and training loops for agents operating in complex environments Build simulated environments, synthetic data generation approaches, and evaluation frameworks that enable scalable agent training and rigorous measurement Raise the technical bar across the team by reviewing research directions, mentoring researchers and research engineers, and setting standards for experimental rigor Collaborate with cross-functional teams across Research, Product, and Engineering to translate advances in autonomous agents into scalable Datadog capabilities Contribute to research publications, present at top-tier conferences such as NeurIPS, ICLR, and ICML, and help open-source key model artifacts and benchmarks Who You Are: You hold a PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field, or have equivalent experience, with deep expertise in areas such as reinforcement learning, AI agents, post-training, or generative modeling You have driven technically ambitious research at meaningful scale as an individual contributor, whether in an industry research lab, startup, academic environment, or another research setting You have extensive hands-on experience designing and implementing reinforcement learning systems, agent training methods, simulated environments, synthetic data pipelines, or evaluation frameworks You have a track record of research impact through influential publications, significant model or system contributions, widely used research artifacts, or equivalent technical achievements You set technical direction through influence rather than authority, and you have mentored other researchers or engineers and elevated the quality of work around you You want to stay deeply hands-on in research for the long term, and you can communicate complex research findings effectively across technical and non-technical audiences Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog. About Datadog: Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG) is a global SaaS business, delivering a rare combination of growth and profitability. We are on a mission to break down silos and solve complexity in the cloud age by enabling digital transformation, cloud migration, and infrastructure monitoring of our customers’ entire technology stacks. Built by engineers, for engineers, Datadog is used by organizations of all sizes across a wide range of industries. Together, we champion professional development, diversity of thought, innovation, and work excellence to empower continuous growth. Join the pack and become part of a collaborative, pragmatic, and thoughtful people-first community where we solve tough problems, take smart risks, and celebrate one another. Learn more about #DatadogLife on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Datadog Learning Center. Equal Opportunity at Datadog: Datadog is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and is proud to offer equal employment opportunity to everyone regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, veteran status, and more. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. Here are our Candidate Legal Notices for your reference. Your Privacy: Any information you submit to Datadog as part of your application will be processed in accordance with Datadog’s Applicant and Candidate Privacy Notice. 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. The reasonably estimated yearly salary for

Role	Staff Research Scientist - Post-training For Agents
Company	Datadog
Location	New York, New York, USA; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Type	full-time
Compensation	Not disclosed
Posted	2026-10-07
Deadline	Rolling

Typical process for this type of role

A general guide — the exact steps for this specific listing may vary; check the original posting for details.

1ApplicationSubmit your resume through the apply link.
2ScreeningRecruiter reviews your background against the role.
3AssessmentA technical test, assignment, or coding round, depending on the role.
4Interview(s)One or more rounds with the hiring team.
5OfferOffer letter with compensation and start date.

Before you apply

0/4

Updated resume saved as a PDF
Read the full job description and eligibility criteria
Portfolio, GitHub, or work samples relevant to the role
Notice period and expected compensation, in case it comes up

About Datadog

Datadog provides a modern monitoring and security platform designed for developers, IT operations teams, and business users operating in the cloud. The company's platform offers a wide range of capabilities, including infrastructure, network, container, and serverless monitoring, as well as application performance monitoring, log management, and cloud security. These tools are utilized by organizations across various industries, such as financial services, healthcare, retail, and technology, to enable digital transformation and drive collaboration across teams. Datadog employs over 8,100 people globally and continues to expand its presence to support customers across diverse markets and regions.

All jobs and hiring details at Datadog careers.datadoghq.com

More at Datadog

Other jobs at Datadog

Regional Manager, Sales Engineering - AI Accounts · California, USA, Remote; Illinois, USA, Remote; Massachusetts, USA, Remote; New York, USA, Remote
Enterprise Customer Success Manager - Boston/new York · Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York, New York, USA
Associate Customer Success Manager - Boston · Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Manager, Global Entity Management · New York, New York, USA
Manager, Business Recruiting - GTM Ecosystems · New York, New York, USA

See all 60 openings at Datadog

Explore Related Placements

Datadog Careers Machine Learning Jobs Software Engineer Jobs

← Back to jobs

// similar opportunities

Research Manager - Post-training For Agents

Datadog

New York, New York, USAfull-time

Greenhouse

As a Research Manager within Datadog AI Research (DAIR), you will lead a team working on fundamental research in post-training and autonomous agents while remai...

Posted 10 days ago

Apply now →

Staff Research Scientist - Foundation & World Models

Datadog

New York, New York, USA; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAfull-time

Greenhouse

As a Staff Research Scientist within Datadog AI Research (DAIR), you will drive research in foundation models and world models as a hands-on individual contribu...

Posted 16 days ago

Apply now →