Senior Account Executive

Duolingo; New York (NY); On-site; USD 121,000 - 163,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo is hiring a Sr. Account Executive to scale Duolingo Ads, our direct ad business. You’ll own a portfolio of premium advertisers and drive revenue growth in a high-velocity environment.

You’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams across product, design, engineering, and sales leadership to build scalable, data-driven revenue strategies while maintaining focus on user experience and brand integrity.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in direct ad sales.
• Experience selling video and native/custom ad formats in premium digital environments.
• Ability to engage senior decision makers while also building sales collateral and driving revenue.
• Proven track record of building new business into lasting ad partnerships with top-tier advertisers.
• Strong understanding of ad tech and mobile app ecosystems.
• Understanding of the Duolingo product and the freemium business model.
• Expertise in using data to derive insights and assess the performance of ad campaigns.
• Experience building standard and innovative ad buying agreements.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to operate at a high level with a lot of ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Own and grow a portfolio of advertisers through prospecting, pitching, closing, and renewal
• Drive revenue growth by generating demand within key verticals by building a robust new business pipeline
• Work effectively and smoothly with key members of the ads team across biz, product, design, and engineering to advance deals
• Share actionable marketplace feedback to inform ads leaders, advance deals and shape products
• Establish and implement efficient, repeatable sales strategies and operational processes, prioritizing accounts and leading key relationships effectively
• Make data-informed decisions around pricing, packaging, and prioritization
• Deliver clear, persuasive pitches and proposals tailored to advertiser goals using internal and external data
• Contribute positively to team culture and shared goals

Skills

Direct ad sales

Video & native ads

Senior stakeholder management

New business development

Ad tech understanding

Freemium model knowledge

Data-driven decision making

Ad buying agreements

Communication & presentation

Ambiguity tolerance

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...

Join us to build Duolingo Ads, Duolingo’s direct ad business.

Duolingo is used by over 150 million users every month to learn a language, music, math, or chess. The vast majority of our learners engage with the free, ad-supported version of our app, which is core to our mission of delivering a learning experience that is accessible to all.

As our reach continues to grow, we want to elevate Duolingo’s free experience by introducing higher-quality ad formats that delight learners and offer strong monetization potential for Duolingo.

We are seeking a Sr. Account Executive to scale our direct advertising business, Duolingo Ads. As a founding member of our sales team, you'll play a key role in driving Duolingo Ads’ growth by scaling revenue with premium advertisers. You’ll collaborate with sales leadership and the cross-functional ads team to drive revenue. Duolingo’s tenets of gamification, delightful design, brand equity, and character IP are key levers you will access to grow an ad offering that delivers for partners and improves the free user experience.

This role reports into our Head of Ad Sales, where you will work in a high-velocity environment to scale revenue by building on Duolingo Ads' foundation, engaging your network to generate demand and drive value to Duolingo and our advertising partners. This position offers a unique, early-stage opportunity to play a pivotal part in shaping the trajectory of ads on Duolingo for hundreds of millions of learners.

:brain: You will...

• Own and grow a portfolio of advertisers through prospecting, pitching, closing, and renewal
• Drive revenue growth by generating demand within key verticals by building a robust new business pipeline
• Work effectively and smoothly with key members of the ads team across biz, product, design, and engineering to advance deals
• Share actionable marketplace feedback to inform ads leaders, advance deals and shape products
• Establish and implement efficient, repeatable sales strategies and operational processes, prioritizing accounts and leading key relationships effectively
• Make data-informed decisions around pricing, packaging, and prioritization
• Deliver clear, persuasive pitches and proposals tailored to advertiser goals using internal and external data
• Contribute positively to team culture and shared goals

:check: You have...

• 5+ years of experience in direct ad sales
• Success selling video and native/custom ad formats in premium, digital environments
• Ability to engage senior decision makers at clients and agencies while also rolling up your sleeves to build sales collateral, troubleshoot issues, and directly bring in revenue
• Consistent track record of building new business into lasting, mutually beneficial ad partnerships with top-tier advertisers
• Strong understanding of ad tech and mobile app ecosystems
• Understanding of the Duolingo product and the freemium business model
• Expertise in using data to derive insights and assess the performance of ad campaigns
• Experience building standard and innovative ad buying agreements
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills
• Ability to operate at a high level with a lot of ambiguity in a fast-paced environment

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

$120,700—$163,300 USD

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.

Fraud Warning: Unfortunately, there is a rise in scammers pretending to be real Duolingo employees. Duolingo and our employees will never ask for your Social Security number, bank details, or passport info, and we’ll never ask you to deposit a check, purchase equipment, or exchange money during the interview process. Real Duolingo employees always use an email that ends in @duolingo.com or @recruiting.duolingo.com. Stay alert and double-check these details before sharing any information.

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