Database software company MongoDB has named Chirantan “CJ” Desai, formerly head of product and engineering at Cloudflare, as its next CEO, effective November 10, 2025. He will succeed Dev Ittycheria, who is stepping down after more than 11 years at the helm and will remain on the board as an advisor.

Desai is known for his extensive leadership experience across enterprise technology firms including ServiceNow and Oracle, positioning him well to drive MongoDB’s next phase of growth in AI‑driven cloud services and innovation around its Atlas platform. The company said the leadership change follows a rigorous selection process and coincides with an uptick in performance and investor confidence.

Under former CEO Ittycheria, MongoDB successfully transitioned from an open‑source project to a major enterprise database provider and went public in 2017. Now, analysts believe the company is entering a pivotal moment where AI, data, and cloud convergence create fresh opportunity — and Desai was chosen for his product‑innovation background and growth focus.

The announcement was welcomed by the market, with MongoDB’s shares rising approximately 5% following the news. Investors are watching how Desai plans to accelerate the company’s role in powering next‑generation applications, enhance its cloud subscription model, and deepen its AI integration.

As Desai takes charge, the focus will be on scaling MongoDB’s global footprint, expanding enterprise adoption, and maintaining agility in a competitive environment that increasingly values data platforms capable of supporting AI workloads. His appointment signals the company’s intention to sharpen its edge, strengthen its leadership team, and capitalise on the booming demand for database infrastructure in the age of generative AI.