DataDdog Observability Engineer

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Kforce has a client that is seeking a Datadog Observability and Monitoring Engineer. This is a contract to hire opportunity. You must be able to work on-site 2 days a week in the New York, NY or Piscataway, NJ office.

Summary:
The Datadog Observability and Monitoring Engineer will take ownership of the Observability platform and drive adoption across the development and infrastructure teams within the organization.

Responsibilities:
* The primary initiative is consolidating several monitoring platforms into Datadog as the client's chosen enterprise observability platform
* This is not a traditional SRE position focused solely on monitoring and dashboards; The goal is to find someone who can own the platform, drive adoption, and build a center of excellence around observability
* Ideal candidate will lead and evolve our observability strategy across cloud and on-premises environments; You will serve as the primary owner and subject matter expert for their Datadog platform - building, scaling, and operating a comprehensive monitoring solution that continuously validates service health (24/7) across business-critical systems, including external websites and key infrastructure components (e.g., firewalls, OpenShift)
* Design and implement end-to-end observability solutions spanning logs, metrics, traces, Service Level Objectives (SLOs), synthetic monitoring, and Real User Monitoring (RUM) to improve reliability, accelerate incident response, and deliver clear visibility into service performance
* Partner closely with application, SRE/DevOps, infrastructure, and security teams and serve as the internal champion and evangelist for Datadog adoption, standards, and best practices; The environment includes an active migration from OpenView to Datadog, with workflows integrating into ServiceNow for incident routing and escalation

REQUIREMENTS:
* BS/BA in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent experience
* 5+ years in Observability, APM, and Platform Engineering - with at least 2-3 years of hands-on, production-grade Datadog experience
* Deep expertise across Datadog's core product suite: APM, Infrastructure Monitoring, Log Management, Synthetics, RUM, SLOs, Dashboards, Monitors, and Alerting
* Proficiency in both Windows Server and Unix (Linux/Solaris) environments, including agent deployment, service instrumentation, and OS-level performance analysis
* Strong scripting and automation skills (Python, PowerShell, Bash) with hands-on experience using the Datadog API/SDK and Terraform to manage observability configurations as code
* Solid understanding of distributed tracing, metrics pipelines, logging standards, and SLO/error budget frameworks within Datadog
* Experience integrating Datadog with cloud platforms (Azure and AWS) and centralizing cross-environment telemetry
* Demonstrated ability to reduce alert noise and MTTR through Datadog monitor tuning, correlation, and enrichment strategies

Nice to Have:
* Datadog certifications (e.g., Datadog Fundamentals, APM, or Log Management)
* Experience migrating from legacy monitoring platforms (e.g., OpenView, AppDynamics, Nagios) to Datadog
* Familiarity with .NET development (C#), including Datadog instrumentation patterns for .NET applications

The pay range is the lowest to highest compensation we reasonably in good faith believe we would pay at posting for this role. We may ultimately pay more or less than this range. Employee pay is based on factors like relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, location, performance, union contract and business needs. This range may be modified in the future.

We offer comprehensive benefits including medical/dental/vision insurance, HSA, FSA, 401(k), and life, disability & ADD insurance to eligible employees. Salaried personnel receive paid time off. Hourly employees are not eligible for paid time off unless required by law. Hourly employees on a Service Contract Act project are eligible for paid sick leave.

Note: Pay is not considered compensation until it is earned, vested and determinable. The amount and availability of any compensation remains in Kforce's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified in its discretion consistent with the law.

This job is not eligible for bonuses, incentives or commissions.

Kforce is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.

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