Senior Director of Engineering, New Subjects

Duolingo; New York (NY); On-site; USD 296,000 - 444,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Holistic employee well-being benefits

Job summary

Duolingo is seeking a Senior Director of Engineering based in New York, NY, to co-lead the New Subjects pillar, focusing on Math, Music, and Chess.

You will drive product and technical strategies while overseeing multiple engineering teams. The ideal candidate will have experience leading large-scale consumer projects, a strong track record of measurable impact, and the ability to build high-performance teams.

This position offers a hybrid work schedule with a competitive salary range from $296,000 to $444,000 USD.

Qualifications

• Experience leading large-scale engineering organizations with 100+ engineers.
• Experience partnering with senior product leadership to define strategy.
• Track record of measurable impact on business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Drive product and technical strategy for Math, Music, and Chess.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, Learning, and AI teams.
• Lead engineering directors on technical challenges.

Skills

Leadership of large-scale consumer product engineering organizations

Product instincts and strategic definition

Driving measurable business outcomes

Building LLM-powered product features

High-velocity product organization experience

High-performance team building

Influencing senior executives

Job description

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. It is a big mission, and that’s where you come in!

At Duolingo, you’ll join a team that cares about finding innovative solutions to complex technical problems, running countless experiments (300+ at a time!) with our massive user base to make data‑driven decisions, and educating our users and employees alike. You’ll have limitless learning opportunities, mentorship and collaboration with world‑class minds, and a variety of projects with large scopes – while doing work that’s both fun and meaningful.

Join our life‑changing mission to develop education for our half a billion (and growing!) learners around the world.

About the role

Over the last few years, Duolingo has expanded beyond language learning into entirely new subjects: Math, Music, and Chess. These products reach millions of daily active users, are growing quickly, and represent a CEO‑level bet that Duolingo can become a platform for learning anything.

We’re looking for a Senior Director of Engineering to co‑lead the New Subjects pillar, responsible for building and scaling products ranging from early stages through to some of the company’s fastest‑growing initiatives.

This is a role for a builder. You’ll make decisions about which subjects to invest in, how to allocate engineering resources across bets at different stages, where to continue investing and where to pivot.

You’ll partner closely with Product and Design to shape the future of the pillar while building the organization that delivers it.

This role is based in our New York, NY office on a hybrid (4+1) work schedule.

You will

• Drive the product and technical strategy across Math, Music, and Chess, balancing short‑term product impact with long‑term strategic goals.
• Partner strategically with Product, Design, Learning and AI to evolve our strategy, including decisions on when and how to expand to additional subjects.
• Lead multiple engineering directors and their teams as they tackle some of the most interesting technical challenges in industry: AI‑based content creation and tutoring at scale, neural bots, and Unity‑based gameplay.
• Drive operational excellence across Duolingo’s engineering org, including reliability, performance, developer productivity, and efficient execution at scale.
• Contribute to Duolingo’s engineering hiring bar and talent systems, playing a central role in hiring decisions, leveling, and organizational design to maintain a high‑performance, high‑density team.
• Lead an organization that moves quickly, runs high‑quality experiments, and translates product insights into measurable business impact.
• Build and develop a strong leadership bench capable of bringing ambitious new products to market.

You have

• Experience leading large‑scale consumer product engineering organizations (100+ engineers), ideally across multiple high‑growth product experiences.
• Product instincts and experience partnering closely with senior product leadership to define strategy, not just execute against it.
• A track record of driving measurable impact on business outcomes, including growing early product development through significant company scale.
• Experience building or scaling LLM‑powered product features, with a strong interest in building engineering cultures that embrace AI‑first ways of working.
• Deep experience building and scaling high‑velocity, experiment‑driven product organizations, leading through multiple layers of leadership (senior directors, directors, EMs).
• A track record of building high‑performance, inclusive teams and making thoughtful, high‑judgment talent decisions.
• Ability to influence senior executives and drive clarity in ambiguous, cross‑functional situations.
• Ability to work from our New York, NY office on a 4+1 hybrid work schedule.

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: $296,000—$444,000 USD

Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well‑being with our benefits.

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].

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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