Director, Talent Acquisition – Sourcing

Duolingo; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 163,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo is seeking a Director, Talent Acquisition – Sourcing to elevate how we identify, engage, and build pipelines for top talent. You will partner with Recruiting leaders, Hiring Managers, and Function Leads to translate business needs into actionable sourcing strategies using data and market insights to drive continuous improvement.

You will develop and implement proactive pipelines, lead cross-functional initiatives, and coach teams to raise the bar on sourcing quality and efficiency.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in sourcing, recruiting, or talent acquisition within high-growth or tech environments.
• 3+ years managing people.
• Strong track record solving complex recruiting challenges.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and ability to influence stakeholders.
• Data-driven approach using market insights to inform decisions.
• Experience improving processes, tools, and ways of working in recruiting or sourcing.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement sourcing strategies across priority roles and functions.
• Collaborate with recruiters and hiring managers to calibrate target profiles and translate goals into plans.
• Build and maintain proactive pipelines for high-priority and hard-to-fill roles.
• Identify opportunities to improve tools, workflows, and processes within sourcing; test new approaches.
• Define and track key sourcing metrics and provide visibility into impact.
• Coach recruiters and sourcers on best practices to raise sourcing quality and engagement.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives to reduce friction in the hiring funnel.

Skills

Sourcing strategy

People management

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decision making

Stakeholder influence

Communication

Relocation to Pittsburgh

Tools

ATS/CRM tools

Recruiting technology

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.

Duolingo is seeking a Director, Talent Acquisition – Sourcing to lead and evolve how we identify, engage, and build relationships with top talent. This role sits within Talent Acquisition and focuses on improving sourcing strategy and effectiveness, elevating team capabilities, and delivering strong pipelines against hiring priorities. You will partner closely with Recruiting leaders, Hiring Managers, and Function Leads to translate business needs into actionable sourcing strategies, using data and market insights to drive continuous improvement.

• Develop and implement sourcing strategies across priority roles and functions, ensuring consistent, high‑quality pipelines aligned to hiring needs.
• Collaborate with recruiters and hiring managers to calibrate target profiles and translate hiring goals into actionable sourcing plans that complement broader recruiting strategies.
• Build and maintain proactive pipelines for high‑priority and hard-to‑fill roles, including structured approaches to candidate engagement and re‑engagement.
• Identify opportunities to improve tools, workflows, and processes within sourcing; test and implement new approaches that increase efficiency and candidate quality.
• Define and track key sourcing metrics (e.g., pipeline health, conversion, efficiency), using data and market insights to identify gaps, adjust strategies, and provide visibility into impact.
• Coach and support recruiters and sourcers on best practices to raise the bar on sourcing quality, candidate engagement, and market insights.
• Lead cross‑functional initiatives that reduce friction in the hiring funnel, drive adoption of improvements, and increase overall sourcing effectiveness.

You have...

• 10+ years of experience in sourcing, recruiting, or talent acquisition within high‑growth or tech environments, including 3+ years managing people.
• A track record of solving complex recruiting challenges and leading initiatives from strategy through execution.
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills with the ability to influence stakeholders and drive alignment.
• Demonstrated ability to use data and market insights to inform decisions and improve outcomes.
• Experience improving processes, tools, and ways of working within recruiting or sourcing organizations.
• Clear, direct communication skills and sound judgment, including navigating and delivering difficult messages when needed.
• Ability to work from or relocate to Pittsburgh, PA.

Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience building structured talent communities and long‑term engagement programs that convert to hires.
• Hands‑on evaluation and rollout of sourcing technologies, ATS/CRM integrations, and workflow improvements.
• Demonstrated success scaling sourcing practices across a recruiting team or function.
• Advanced capability building for sourcers and recruiters (playbooks, training, rubrics) with measurable uplift in pipeline quality.
• Comfort operating at the L4 director scope: high autonomy, domain leadership, and cross‑functional influence within Talent Acquisition.

Benefits: Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits here.

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.

The offered salary is dependent upon several factors, including work experience, skills, and internal peer comparisons. The posted range is subject to change in the future. For this role, base salary is supplemented by equity compensation. We encourage you to talk with your recruiter for more information related to compensation for this role!

Salary Range:

$163,200 — $244,800 USD

AI in Hiring: Duolingo uses AI technology to assist in our hiring process. We want to be transparent about how we use this technology and your rights. We use Greenhouse Software's Talent Matching feature to assist with reviewing applications for the skills and experience we have decided are important for this role.

How it works:

• Talent Matching reviews your resume and responses to application questions to determine the extent to which your qualifications match the job requirements selected for this role. These requirements and their desired weighting are established by our recruiters in collaboration with hiring managers.
• All Talent Matching output is reviewed by our recruiting and hiring teams, who make the final decision on each application. Talent Matching does not automatically disposition any candidate or make hiring decisions.

Voluntary Self Identification

To fulfill our mission of developing the best education in the world and making it universally available, we seek exceptional talent for every role. We recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds. To help us evaluate our hiring process for equitability, we invite U.S. applicants to share their demographic information. Participation in this survey is voluntary and confidential. Participation will not affect any hiring decisions or outcomes.