Senior Data Scientist - AI Applied Researcher

$187,000 - $240,000/Yr

Datadog - New York, NY

Full-time - Senior

New York, NY

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services

About the position

Our AI Applied Research team is at the forefront of leveraging cutting-edge generative AI technologies to create impactful product features within the Datadog application. We focus on research, fine-tuning, training, and efficient deployment of LLMs, and other foundation models, to power innovative features across the Datadog platform (see Bits AI, your new DevOps copilot for example). As an applied researcher on our team, you will contribute to groundbreaking research with direct product applications, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with Foundation Models and AI Agents. 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.

Responsibilities

• Conduct cutting-edge research in Generative AI and Machine Learning, with a focus on translating novel ideas into practical, high-impact product features
• Contribute to and leverage large-scale distributed fine-tuning and training infrastructures for state-of-the-art models
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate advanced AI capabilities into Datadog's product ecosystem
• Lead and contribute to research publications, presenting findings at top-tier conferences in the field
• Actively participate in our journal club, staying abreast of the latest developments in LLM and Generative AI research
• Mentor junior researchers and engineers, fostering a culture of innovation and scientific rigor

Requirements

• You hold a PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field, with a strong focus on deep learning, reinforcement learning and natural language processing (or equivalent experience)
• You possess extensive experience in designing and implementing deep learning models, particularly in the NLP domain
• You're well-versed in distributed training frameworks (e.g., DeepSpeed, Megatron-LM) and ML development libraries such as PyTorch and TensorFlow
• You have a demonstrated ability to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and practical product applications
• You're passionate about pushing the boundaries of AI while maintaining a strong focus on real-world impact
• You are familiar with efficient training techniques for large foundation models and with model compression techniques
• You possess the ability to elaborate complex models and ideas to non-technical personnel

Nice-to-haves

• You have a proven track record of conducting impactful research in the field with publications at top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML)
• You have hands-on experience with GPU programming and optimization, including experience in CUDA
• You have experience writing production data pipelines and applications

Benefits

• Competitive global benefits
• New hire stock equity (RSUs) and employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)
• Opportunity to collaborate closely with colleagues across the Datadog offices in New York City and Paris
• Opportunity to attend and present at conferences and meetups
• Intra-departmental mentor and buddy program for in-house networking
• An inclusive company culture, ability to join our Community Guilds (Datadog employee resource groups)
• Healthcare, dental, parental planning, and mental health benefits
• 401(k) plan and match
• Paid time off
• Fitness reimbursements
• Discounted employee stock purchase plan