Head of Ad Platform Operations & Programmatic Strategy

Duolingo; New York (NY); On-site; USD 196,000 - 294,000; 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 partner with Sales, Account Management, Product, Engineering, Data, and buyers to improve campaign performance, scale premium demand, and establish an accountable operating model that supports growth and reliability.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in digital advertising or AdOps with GAM expertise.
• Experience with direct, PMP, and PG deals.
• Ability to build scalable operational systems and SLAs.
• Experience collaborating across cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Own GAM structure and hygiene with SLA-driven workflows.
• Escalation point for complex campaign delivery issues.
• Collaborate with Sales, PM and Tech on programmatic deals and training.
• Package inventory and onboard new demand sources to scale premium deals.
• Identify resources and drive prioritization for scale.

Skills

AdOps experience

Programmatic advertising

GAM expertise

Campaign delivery

Reporting & QA

Tools

Google Ad Manager

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.

⭐ Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience helping a premium publisher or consumer app scale from open-auction programmatic toward a deal-led PMP/PG model including first-party data signaling, audience packaging, and other ways publishers make inventory more valuable to buyers.
• Experience with video and mobile app ad products, including the technical requirements around viewability, click tracking, measurement, and creative QA.
• Experience managing globally distributed operations support, including offshore or external vendor partners.

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:

$196,000—$294,000 USD

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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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