Director of Ad Platform Operations

EngineersOfAI; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo is seeking a Director of Ad Platform Operations to lead the technical and operational backbone of Duolingo Ads across direct-sold and programmatic. You will own campaign delivery quality, troubleshoot complex issues with buyers and platforms, and shape how we package and scale PMP/PG demand.

You will partner with Sales, Account Management, Product, Engineering, Data, Finance, and external AdOps partners to improve campaign performance and operational excellence, building an accountable

Qualifications

• 8+ years in digital advertising, AdOps, or technical advertising solutions.
• Hands-on expertise in Google Ad Manager, trafficking, QA, troubleshooting, pacing, reporting, and campaign delivery.
• Experience with buyers, DSPs, SSPs, or publisher-side programmatic teams to resolve issues.
• Ability to build or scale operational systems with SLA-based workflows and escalation paths.

Responsibilities

• Own GAM structure and hygiene, including ad unit design, yield logic, and standards with trafficking, QA, and launch workflows.
• Escalate complex delivery issues across direct, PMP, and PG deals with buyers, DSPs, SSPs, and internal teams.
• Collaborate with Sales and Account Management on pre-sale feasibility, tagging, measurement, and programmatic deal setup.
• Package inventory and configure deals to accelerate premium programmatic revenue and onboard new SSPs and vendors.
• Identify resources and partners needed to scale ad operations and drive prioritization.

Skills

AdOps experience

Google Ad Manager

Campaign troubleshooting

Programmatic knowledge

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...

Duolingo’s Ads business helps fund our mission by keeping core learning free while raising the bar on ad quality. We’re looking for a Director of Ad Platform Operations to lead the technical and operational backbone of Duolingo Ads across direct-sold and programmatic. This role sits at the intersection of AdOps, technical account management, and programmatic strategy: you will own campaign delivery quality, troubleshoot complex issues with buyers and platforms, shape how we package and scale PMP / PG demand, and build the systems, processes, and team that make our ads business more reliable and more scalable.

You’ll partner closely with Sales, Account Management, Product, Engineering, Data, Finance, buyers, DSPs, SSPs, and external AdOps partners to improve campaign performance and operational excellence. Success in this role means building a high-accountability operating model across GAM architecture, QA, reporting, pacing, partner onboarding, and technical support—while helping Duolingo evolve from a mostly open-auction setup into a more premium, deal-led programmatic business.

You will...

• Own Google Ad Manager (GAM) structure and hygiene including canonical ad unit design, yield group logic, order and line-item standards alongside trafficking, QA, and launch workflows with clear SLAs and escalation paths.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex campaign delivery issues across direct, PMP, and PG deals, working directly with buyers, DSPs, SSPs, and internal teams including monitoring pacing, reconciling 1P/3P reporting discrepancies, and flagging under-delivery risk with recommended fixes.
• Partner with Sales and Account Management on pre-sale feasibility, targeting and tagging requirements, measurement questions, and programmatic deal setup and build the documentation and training that lets commercial teams sell technical ad products without constant specialist support.
• Accelerate premium programmatic revenue by packaging inventory, configuring always-on and custom PMP/PG deals, and onboarding new SSPs, demand sources, and measurement vendors scaling premium demand without degrading UX or operational quality.
• Identify the critical resources, people, vendor partners, and technology required for ad operations to scale, and drive prioritization across them.

You have...

• 8+ years in digital advertising, AdOps, or technical advertising solutions, with deep hands-on expertise in Google Ad Manager, trafficking, QA, troubleshooting, pacing, reporting, and campaign delivery across direct and programmatic.
• Experience working directly with buyers, DSPs, SSPs, or publisher-side programmatic teams to resolve technical campaign issues grounded in strong knowledge of programmatic buying, measurement, ad verification, targeting, deal types, and the operational realities of PMP and PG execution.
• A proven ability to build or scale operational systems, including SLA-based support workflows, escalation paths, QA processes, documentation, and ticket-based issue management.
• Experience partnering cross-functionally with Sales, Account Management, Product, Engineering, and Data in a fast-moving environment with evolving products and imperfect systems.
• Sound judgment, strong communication skills, and the ability to stay hands-on in the details while setting strategy and raising the bar for how the function operates.

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