Senior Engineering Manager, AI Platform

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

Job summary

Duolingo is seeking an engineering manager to lead the AI Tooling and Ecosystem Team, guiding 5–6 engineers to design systems for datasets, model evaluation, and AI workflows that power product features. You will partner with AI Core Infra, product, data science, and platform leaders to define quality metrics, optimize prompts, and build scalable tools that accelerate AI-enabled capabilities across teams.

You will own multi-quarter roadmaps, shape future AI strategy, and ensure reliable,

Qualifications

• Experience leading, managing, and building a team of software and/or AI engineers.
• Track record of building AI-related infrastructure or AI-powered products.
• Familiarity with AI evaluation methods using human and LLM-based judging.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and clear communication.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.

Responsibilities

• Drive development of tools and services that empower Duolingo's product teams to easily build AI-powered features and workflows.
• Manage shared systems for AI-related datasets, prompts, and evaluations (human and LLM-as-a-judge).
• Define success criteria for AI use-cases, identify models, and build feedback loops for prompt optimization.
• Streamline AI development flows for teams with varying AI expertise.
• Collaborate with AI Core Infrastructure Team to ensure reliable, measurable, and cost-efficient workflows.
• Partner with AI, Product, Data Science, and Platform leaders to build new AI tooling for common use-cases.
• Own multi-quarter roadmaps and cross-functional alignment to increase AI feature velocity.

Skills

AI engineering leadership

People management

Cross-functional leadership

Team building

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Python

ML frameworks

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 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...

As the manager and team lead of the new AI Tooling and Ecosystem Team, you will lead the development of the suite of tools and services that power Duolingo's use of AI in the product. You'll lead a team of 5-6 engineers to design systems for managing datasets, evaluating the performance of AI models, and building AI workflows. You will help shape how Duolingo builds features using AI, enabling teams to easily define quality metrics, combine human and AI feedback, and compare model performance. We're looking for an engineering manager who has experience building AI products or infrastructure and is excited to play a central role in shaping the future of AI at Duolingo!

• Drive development of tools and services that empower Duolingo's product teams to easily and effectively build AI-powered features and workflows.
• Manage our shared systems and workflows for AI-related datasets, prompts, and evaluations (both human and LLM-as-a-judge).
• Build processes that allow teams to define success criteria for their AI use-case, identify the most appropriate models, and construct feedback loops for prompt optimization.
• Streamline common AI development flows so that teams with varying levels of AI expertise can build out AI systems quickly.
• Collaborate closely with the AI Core Infrastructure Team to ensure that AI workflows are reliable, measurable, and cost efficient.
• Partner with AI, Product, Data Science, and Platform leaders to build out new AI tooling that supports common use-cases.
• Own multi‑quarter roadmaps and cross‑functional alignment that increase AI feature velocity and measurable product impact across Duolingo.

You have...

• Experience leading, managing, and building a team of software and/or AI engineers, with demonstrated ability to hire, develop, and retain talent.
• A track record of building AI-related infrastructure or user‑facing products powered by AI.
• Familiarity with AI evaluation methods, especially approaches that combine human and LLM-as-a-judge evaluations.
• Strong cross‑functional leadership and communication skills; proven ability to align AI, product, data science, and platform partners on strategy and execution.
• Comfort leading through ambiguity and shaping new ways of working in a fast‑evolving AI landscape.
• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field
• The ability to work from or relocate to Pittsburgh, PA or New York, NY.

Exceptional candidates will have...

• A track record of developing internal tools on a platform or infrastructure team, providing tools and services via easy‑to‑use APIs, MCPs, and web GUIs.
• Experience navigating build vs. buy decisions and shaping long‑term roadmaps based on the needs of internal customers.

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.