The next-generation database company has hired Chirantan “CJ” Desai to take over from Dev Ittycheria, who is retiring after 11 years in the CEO job.
Next-generation database developer MongoDB has hired former Cloudflare and ServiceNow executive Chirantan “CJ” Desai as the company’s new president and CEO, succeeding current President and CEO Dev Ittycheria, who is retiring.
Desai’s appointment is effective Nov. 10, MongoDB announced today. Ittycheria, who has been MongoDB’s top executive for more than 11 years, will remain on the company’s board and serve as an advisor to Desai “to ensure a seamless transition and continued execution of the company’s long-term strategy,” MongoDB said in a press announcement.
MongoDB said Desai’s appointment “follows a comprehensive CEO search supported by an executive search firm to identify a next-generation leader with deep experience in cloud infrastructure, AI, enterprise software, and product innovation – someone equipped to guide the Company on its continued journey towards durable, profitable growth.”
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The company said the leadership change follows Ittycheria’s decision “to retire from a full-time operating role.”
“It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead MongoDB since 2014, and I could not be prouder of what we have accomplished together,” Ittycheria said in the company announcement. “Through relentless innovation, discipline, and teamwork, we transformed MongoDB into a global software leader with an enduring culture and a strong track record of execution.”
Founded in 2007 as “10gen,” New York-based MongoDB has emerged as one of the leading next-generation NoSQL database developers with its high-performance, document-oriented database and, more recently, its popular MongoDB Atlas cloud-based platform for developing cloud-based applications and AI software.
For its fiscal 2026 second quarter (ended July 31, 2025) MongoDB reported revenue of $591.4 million, up 24 percent from the fiscal 2025 second quarter. The company currently has more than 60,000 customers. The company on Monday said it expects to exceed the high end of its revenue and non-GAAP income guidance for the fiscal third quarter.
Desai joins MongoDB after serving as president of product and engineering at Cloudflare since October 2024 where he was responsible for driving product strategy and execution “during a period of strong revenue growth and stock performance for the company,” MongoDB said.
“MongoDB has long been the partner of choice for building applications that transform businesses, and now it is uniquely positioned to power the next wave of AI-driven applications,” Desai said in the company statement. “My directive is clear: by staying relentlessly close to customers, delivering category-defining products, and executing at scale, we can seize the enormous opportunities ahead. I’m grateful for the foundation that Dev and the executive team have built and am honored to take the baton from Dev to guide MongoDB through its next phase of innovation and growth.”
Before joining Cloudflare, Desai worked at ServiceNow for nearly eight years, last serving as president and chief operating officer for a year and a half in 2023 and 2024, helping “organically scale the company from $1.5 billion to over $10 billion in annualized revenue,” Mongo DB said. Before taking that post he held COO and chief product & engineering officer jobs at ServiceNow.
Between 2013 and 2016 he was president of EMC’s Emerging Technologies Division and before that was executive vice president (information management, enterprise security) at Symantec. He began his career at Oracle where he played a role in launching that company’s first cloud service.
Ittycheria, in the company statement, expressed gratitude to MongoDB’s employees and customers. “I have complete confidence in CJ’s leadership, experience, and judgment, and I look forward to supporting him and the executive team as they continue to build MongoDB into an iconic technology company,” he said.
