Senior Recruiter, Leadership

Duolingo; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 143,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo is hiring a Senior Recruiter in New York City to lead Senior Director and above searches across all functions. You will partner with executives to shape roles, map the market and close offers in a hybrid (4+1) setup, helping to build leadership pipelines for tech and beyond.

You will design structured leadership assessments, deliver a high-touch candidate experience, and leverage AI tools to optimize every search while aligning with Duolingo’s culture and mission.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience at technology companies, including leadership hiring.
• Experience leading senior leadership searches end-to-end from sourcing to close.
• Strong business sense and credibility to partner with C-level executives.
• Hands-on experience using AI tools in recruiting and a curious mindset.
• Hybrid work availability at our New York City office (4+1).

Responsibilities

• Lead Senior Director and above searches end-to-end across all functions, from intake through sourcing, assessment, offer and close.
• Build talent maps and pipelines of senior leaders in tech and beyond, using research, referrals, networks and direct outreach to passive talent.
• Partner with executives to shape each role by clarifying the scope, defining success, and aligning market realities.
• Develop structured assessments that measure leadership, functional depth and fit with Duolingo's culture.
• Create a thoughtful, high-touch experience for candidates and hiring managers that reflects Duolingo’s brand.
• Use data, AI and feedback from hiring partners to keep searches moving and improve each process.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Leadership hiring

Executive partnering

AI in recruiting

Hybrid NYC work

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.

We’re looking for a Senior Recruiter to help hire the leaders who will shape Duolingo’s next chapter. You’ll lead Senior Director and above searches across all functions, serving as a trusted partner to our leaders at every step, from shaping the role and mapping the market to assessing candidates and closing offers. Your work will directly impact how we fill our most critical roles and influence how we hire leaders more broadly. As the first hire on our Leadership Recruiting team, you’ll report to our Senior Principal Recruiter, with potential to own specific functional areas over time. The role is based in our New York City office on a hybrid (4+1) schedule.

• Lead Senior Director and above searches end to end across all functions, from intake through sourcing, assessment, offer and close
• Build talent maps and pipelines of senior leaders in tech and beyond, using research, referrals, networks and direct outreach to passive talent
• Partner with executives to shape each role by clarifying the scope, defining what success looks like and pushing back when the market tells a different story
• Develop a deep understanding of the functions you support and design structured assessments that measure leadership, functional depth and fit with how Duolingo works
• Create a thoughtful, high-touch experience for candidates and hiring managers alike, so every interaction reflects Duolingo’s culture, values and brand
• Use data, AI and feedback from hiring partners to keep searches moving and make each one better than the last

You have...

• 8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience at technology companies, including 2+ years focused on leadership hiring (Director and above)
• A track record of leading technical and non-technical leadership searches end-to-end, from sourcing to close
• Strong business sense and the credibility to partner with, advise and influence C-level executives
• Hands‑on experience using AI tools in your recruiting work, and the curiosity to keep experimenting
• The ability to work from our New York City office on a hybrid (4+1) schedule

Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience recruiting for a high‑growth consumer technology company where Engineering, Product and Design lead the way
• Deep knowledge of and experience sourcing and recruiting for challenging roles across Engineering, Product and Design
• Alignment with Duolingo’s mission (and an impressive Duolingo streak!)

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.

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:

$142,800 — $193,200 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.

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