Data Scientist, Intern (PhD)

Duolingo; Pennsylvania; On-site; USD 87,000 - 90,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Language learning opportunities

Catered in-house lunches and breakfast

Company-wide Hackathon

PTO and holidays

Frequent company dinners and socialcl

Job summary

Duolingo invites a PhD-level Data Science intern to derive insights and influence product roadmaps through advanced analytics and experimentation. You will model user behavior, collaborate with product and engineering teams, and present findings to senior management.

Ideal candidates are in the 3rd year of a quantitative PhD, can relocate to Pittsburgh or NYC, and have strong SQL/Python/R skills with experience handling large datasets and cloud tools.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a PhD in a quantitative field, expected to graduate Fall 2027 or Spring/Summer 2028.
• Experience analyzing large datasets and communicating results to senior audiences.
• Strong SQL, Python or R, and knowledge of statistical methods.

Responsibilities

• Derive insights from data to influence product roadmaps and drive business results.
• Apply advanced analytical methods, causal inference, and/or ML/AI to model user behavior and estimate impact of feature implementations.
• Evaluate product experiments to improve user experiences.

Skills

SQL

Python

R

Big data

Cloud computing

Education

PhD student in quantitative field

Tools

BigQuery

Snowflake

dbt

Job description

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. It’s a big mission, and that’s where you come in!

At Duolingo, you’ll join a team that cares about educating our users, experimenting with big ideas, making fact-based decisions, and finding innovative solutions to complex problems. You’ll have limitless learning opportunities and daily collaborations with world-class minds — while doing work that’s both meaningful and fun.

Join our life-changing mission to develop education for our half a billion (and growing!) learners around the world.

Read our blog to learn more.

About the role

You will…

• Derive insights from data to influence product roadmaps and drive business results
• Apply advanced analytical methods, structural approaches, causal inference, and/or machine learning and AI to model user behavior and estimate the impact of potential new feature implementations, and collaborate with product and engineering teams to develop solutions
• Evaluate product experiments to create and improve user experiences
• Communicate and present findings and recommendations to senior management
• Help preserve our culture of fact-based decision making as we scale

You have…

• Pursuing a PhD degree (in at least the third year of PhD program) in a quantitative field (e.g. Economics, Finance, Statistics, Math, Linguistics, Computer Science, Computational Social Science, ML/AI), ideally planning to graduate in Fall 2027 or Spring/Summer 2028
• Strong understanding of consumer digital products and an interest in applying advanced analytics and economics to business outcomes
• Previous experience analyzing large datasets, communicating results to technical and non-technical senior-level audiences, and making actionable recommendations that improve the product or business
• Skilled in SQL, R or Python, and/or statistical methods to analyze behavioral data
• Enthusiasm for learning and sharing analytical methods to help grow a collaborative Data Science team and data-forward company culture
• Able to relocate to Pittsburgh or NYC for the internship

Exceptional candidates will have…

• Experience with "big data" and cloud computing technologies like BigQuery, Snowflake, and/or dbt
• Experience articulating business questions and using available data to find answers that translate into product recommendations
• Self-starter, with a desire to both learn new techniques and guide others
• Previous experience/internships in applied business settings
• Familiarity with AI tools such as Cursor, a knack for prompt engineering, and a desire to continue to innovate and learn in AI
• A GPA of 3.5+
• A Duolingo streak

Why you’ll love working here…

• Language learning opportunities
• Catered in-house lunches and breakfast
• Company-wide Hackathon
• PTO and company holidays
• Frequent company-wide dinners, monthly celebrations, social clubs, and so much more!

Hourly Range for this internship is: $63 — $65 USD

Accommodations: We will do everything we can within reason to make sure that your interview takes place in an environment that fairly and accurately assesses your skills. If you need assistance or accommodation, please contact [e-mail].

Equal Employment Opportunity: Duolingo is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

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