Datadog
Large (~6,000)
Scale AI
Large (~1,200)
Best For
Datadog
Best for: Engineers who want strong comp and interesting scale challenges in cloud observability
Scale AI
Best for: Ambitious builders who want critical AI infrastructure work serving top-tier clients
Ratings
DatadogScale AI
4.2
3.5
Overall
3.8
2.7
Work-Life Balance
4.3
2.9
Culture & Values
4.4
3.5
Comp & Benefits
3.8
2.8
Senior Mgmt
4.0
3.6
Career Opps
👍 80% Recommend
👤 87% CEO Approval (Olivier Pomel)
👍 56% Recommend
👤 60% CEO Approval (Alexandr Wang)
Culture Values
Datadog only
💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Scale AI only
No unique values
Shared
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate🌱 Learning & Growth🎯 Direct Product Impact
Pros & Cons
Datadog
- Excellent compensation and equity — stock has been a genuine wealth builder for early employees
- Strong engineering culture with smart coworkers and interesting technical challenges at scale
- Fast pace can lead to long hours and pressure to deliver, work-life balance varies by team
- Rapid growth has led to organizational growing pains and bureaucracy creeping in
Scale AI
- Building critical AI data infrastructure used by OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and the US government
- Strong compensation for engineers — competitive base + equity
- Work-life balance rated 2.7/5 — long hours common during client deadlines
- Culture and values scored 2.9/5 — inconsistent management quality
Bottom Line
Datadog
Choose Datadog if you want strong comp, interesting scale challenges in observability, and a fast-paced engineering culture — but expect long hours and growing bureaucracy.
Scale AI
Choose Scale AI if you want to build data infrastructure for OpenAI and the US government — but expect long hours and inconsistent management.
Open Roles
Datadog — 451 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
217
💻 Engineering
118
📋 Product
28
📣 Marketing
15
👤 HR / People
8
🧠 ML / AI
8
🎨 Design
7
⚙️ Operations
6
⚖️ Legal
3
📊 Data
1
💰 Finance
1
Scale AI — 170 jobs
💻 Engineering
61
🧠 ML / AI
25
📋 Product
14
💼 Sales / GTM
14
⚙️ Operations
8
⚖️ Legal
7
📣 Marketing
5
📊 Data
3
👤 HR / People
2
🎨 Design
1
💰 Finance
1
🎧 Support
1
Summary
Datadog scores 4.2/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.8 work-life balance rating. Scale AI scores 3.5/5.0 overall with a 2.7 WLB. That’s a 0.7-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Learning & Growth, Direct Product Impact. Datadog also emphasizes Strong Comp & Equity.
On the hiring front, Datadog has 451 open roles and Scale AI has 170 open roles.