Area Vice President, Sales Engineering

Leads North America Sales Engineering team for enterprise accounts, defining technical sales strategy, partnering with sales leadership on revenue goals, and influencing global product roadmap through customer insights. Requires 10+ years in pre-sales leadership with expertise in SaaS, cloud, observability, AI, and security.

About the job

What You Will Do

Executive Leadership & Organizational Growth

Recruit, develop, and lead a team of 3rd line SE Directors, fostering a culture of technical excellence, customer-centricity, and continuous growth.
Define and drive the technical sales strategy across North America, and globally.
Set the vision, priorities, and operating model for Sales Engineering, ensuring alignment with Datadog’s business objectives and local market dynamics.
Partner with Sales Leadership to align on revenue targets, go-to-market initiatives, and strategic customer engagement across the region.
Represent North America Sales Engineering globally, ensuring regional perspectives and requirements are reflected in Datadog’s product roadmap and GTM planning.

Customer Partnership & Advocacy

Act as a trusted advisor to C-level and senior technical executives, demonstrating how Datadog solves critical observability, performance, and security challenges, especially given the rapid business adoption of AI.
Provide executive support for high-stakes opportunities, offering guidance throughout complex sales cycles.
Serve as an executive sponsor for strategic customers across North America.
Promote value-based technical selling, empowering teams to deliver impactful business outcomes.

Cross-functional Collaboration & Global Influence

Collaborate closely with Sales, Marketing, Product, Engineering, and Customer Success to align field execution and messaging.
Use customer and field insights to advocate for innovation and regional needs within Product and Engineering.
Influence Datadog’s product roadmap and go-to-market strategies through close collaboration with global stakeholders.

Operational Excellence

Implement and scale pre-sales methodologies, tools, and KPIs to drive consistency and customer impact across North America.
Analyze team performance and regional trends to drive data-driven improvements.
Stay current on market trends, competitive landscape, customer pain points, and evolving partner ecosystems.

Who You Are

10+ years of experience in Sales Engineering, Solutions Architecture, or similar pre-sales leadership roles, with multiple years of SE leadership experience or second line leadership.
Proven expertise in enterprise SaaS, cloud, observability, AI, and security solutions, with a track record of driving technical sales success at scale.
Strong executive presence and ability to engage and influence C-level stakeholders in large, complex organizations.
Exceptional leadership, coaching, and team-building capabilities, with experience scaling high-impact teams.
Proven track record in building customer relationships and willing to get in the field and help with top down sales.
Deep understanding of sales methodologies such as MEDDICC, Command of Message (CoM), or similar frameworks.
Ability to travel up to 50% as needed.

Compensation

Reasonably estimated yearly salary: $238,000—$349,000 USD
Competitive salary and equity package, variable compensation, comprehensive benefits including healthcare, dental, 401(k) match, PTO, fitness reimbursements, ESPP.