Head of Executive Search, Business Recruiting

We are seeking a Head of Executive Search to build and lead a centralized, specialized function responsible for global leadership hiring across sales, marketing, technical solutions, and G&A. This role will bring consistency, rigor, and strategic ownership to Senior Director, VP, and SVP hiring while partnering closely with executive stakeholders to deliver high-impact talent outcomes. You will elevate assessment and decision-making practices, develop proactive executive talent pipelines, and generate market intelligence that informs hiring and organizational strategy. This is a high-visibility opportunity to shape how Datadog attracts, evaluates, and hires senior leadership globally, with potential to expand scope to Director+ and executive-level searches over time.

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.

What You’ll Do:

• Own end-to-end strategy and execution for Senior Director, VP, and SVP searches, with dotted line to APAC
• Recruit highly confidential searches end to end, taking on execution responsibilities when needed
• Build and lead a specialized executive search team, including defining operating rhythms and performance expectations
• Establish and operationalize a standardized leadership hiring playbook, including executive assessment frameworks, confidentiality protocols, and stakeholder governance
• Partner directly with C-suite, VP, and SVP stakeholders to drive alignment, calibration, and high-quality hiring decisions
• Develop proactive, long-term pipelines for critical leadership roles while producing market intelligence to inform talent and organizational strategy
• Define and execute an agency engagement and executive candidate closing strategy to reduce external spend and deliver a high-touch candidate experience

Who You Are:

• Experienced executive search leader with a track record of delivering Senior Director+ hires in complex, global organizations
• Skilled at building and scaling teams, with the ability to set clear standards and drive consistent execution
• Trusted partner to senior executives, with strong communication skills and the ability to influence and navigate complex decision-making
• Adept at executive assessment, market mapping, and proactive pipeline development
• Data-driven in approach, using metrics and insights to improve hiring outcomes and inform strategy
• High integrity operator with experience managing confidential and sensitive searches

Datadog values people from all walks of life. We understand not everyone will meet all the above qualifications on day one. That's okay. If you’re passionate about technology and want to grow your skills, we encourage you to apply.

Benefits and Growth:

• Opportunity to build and scale a global executive search function from the ground up
• High visibility role partnering with executive leadership on critical hiring decisions
• Ability to shape leadership hiring strategy and influence organizational growth
• Professional development through complex, high-impact search engagements
• Collaborative, cross-functional work environment
• Exposure to global markets and leadership talent ecosystems
• Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog.

Benefits and Growth listed above may vary based on the country of your employment and the nature of your employment with Datadog.

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 this role at Datadog is:

$173,000—$230,000 USD

About Datadog:

Datadog is the leading observability and security platform for the AI era, providing businesses with unified visibility across the technology stack to manage complexity at scale. It brings applications, infrastructure, data, models, and security into one place, using AI to detect and resolve issues before they impact customers. Trusted globally by Fortune 500 companies and high-growth AI leaders, Datadog enables businesses to move faster with clarity and confidence. Learn more about #DatadogLife on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Datadog Learning Center.

Equal Opportunity at Datadog:

Datadog 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 other characteristics protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. Here are our Candidate Legal Notices for your reference.

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Privacy and AI Guidelines:

Any information you submit to Datadog as part of your application will be processed in accordance with Datadog’s Applicant and Candidate Privacy Notice. For information on our AI policy, please visit Interviewing at Datadog AI Guidelines.