Senior Data Science Manager, User Growth

Duolingo; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 204,000 - 306,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo seeks a Senior Data Science Manager to lead the data science function within User Growth, owning forecasting, experimentation, and BI for a fast-growing product platform.

You will manage 6 to 10 data scientists, coach talent, hire over time, and partner with Engineering, Product, Design, and Finance to drive measurable growth and data-driven decisions across user acquisition, activation, retention, and reengagement.

Qualifications

• Experience leading 5+ person data science teams.
• Graduate degree in Data Science, Statistics, Economics, or related field.
• Proven ability to hire and grow high-performing data scientists.
• Strong SQL, Python or R, and analytics tooling.
• Experience with causal inference, experimentation, and ML models.

Responsibilities

• Set the analytical vision and roadmap for User Growth data science.
• Lead a team of 6–10 data scientists; coach and grow talent.
• Embed data scientists within product development teams.
• Design, execute, and interpret experiments to inform growth decisions.
• Develop and maintain growth forecasting systems and dashboards.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Design, Marketing, and Finance.
• Translate findings into clear narratives for senior leadership.

Skills

Data science leadership

Team management

SQL

Python

R

Experimentation

Causal inference

Machine learning

Education

Graduate degree in Data Science / Statistics / Economics

Tools

SQL tooling

Job description

Senior Data Science Manager, User Growth

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.

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. With over 500 million users and rapid expansion across new subjects and markets, Duolingo's growth trajectory demands world-class analytical leadership. We're hiring a Senior Data Science Manager to lead the data science function within our Growth pillar, one of the most consequential areas of the business.

This person will own all aspects of product data science, forecasting, and business intelligence for User Growth. They will lead a team of 6 to 10 data scientists spanning staff to junior levels, with a mandate to coach, develop, and grow their careers while also expanding the team by hiring exceptional talent over time. The ideal candidate combines deep technical fluency in forecasting, statistical/ML modeling, and experimentation with genuine leadership ability: the kind of person who raises the bar for everyone around them.

This role reports to the Head of Data Science & Analytics and partners closely with cross-functional leadership in Engineering, Product, Design, and Finance.

• Set the analytical vision and roadmap for User Growth data science, ensuring the team's work is tightly aligned with company-level priorities and pillar-level goals.
• Lead a team of 6 to 10 data scientists. Build a culture of professional growth, intellectual rigor, creative problem-solving, and shipping impact. Grow the team over time by attracting and hiring outstanding talent.
• Support and evolve the practice of embedding Data Scientists within product development teams, simultaneously maintaining strong stakeholder connection and function cohesion.
• Own the design, execution, and interpretation of experiments and analyses that drive decisions on user acquisition, activation, retention, and reengagement. Improve and advocate for the methodological standards that ensure we learn reliably from every test.
• Develop and maintain user growth forecasting systems. Partner with Finance and Product to deliver credible, timely forecasts of key growth metrics and ensure leadership has the quantitative foundation to set targets and allocate resources.
• Drive business intelligence strategy within Growth, including the metrics layer, self-serve dashboards, and the analytical infrastructure that enables others to operate with data fluency.
• Translate complex analytical findings into clear narratives for senior leadership and cross-functional partners. Influence strategic decisions through a combination of technical depth and effective communication.
• Collaborate across organizational boundaries with Product Management, Engineering, Design, Marketing, and Finance to elevate every phase of product development.

You have...

• Experience using data science and analytics to solve product and business problems.
• Experience managing 5+ person data science teams.
• A graduate degree in Data Science, Statistics, Economics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent demonstrated expertise in formal analytical techniques.
• Applied industry experience using causal inference, experimentation, and/or machine learning models. You routinely use analytical tools in messy real world settings where details, confounds, and the validity of assumptions matter.
• Proven ability to build, lead, and grow a high-performing data science team. You have a track record of hiring well, developing people across levels, managing performance, and creating an environment where talented scientists do their best work.
• Strong command of SQL, Python or R, and data/analytics engineering ecosystems. You do not need to write production pipelines, but you need to go deep when the work requires it.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to distill complex quantitative work into crisp, actionable insights for diverse audiences.

Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience operating at a high-growth, data-intensive consumer technology company.
• Experience developing and implementing a long-range analytical vision that shaped product strategy and business outcomes.
• Demonstrated success in building forecasting systems or attribution models at scale.
• Experience navigating the transition from growth-stage to scaled public company, including the analytical demands that come with investor-grade reporting and forecasting.
• Experience with AI and machine learning as applied to user behavior modeling, notification optimization, or personalization.

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.

By applying for this position your data will be processed as per the Duolingo Applicant Privacy Notice .

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:

$204,000 - $306,000 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.