Senior Scaling Operations Program Manager

EngineersOfAI; New York, Northern (NY, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo seeks a Senior Scaling Operations Program Manager to own cross-functional programs that move ideas to scalable, reliable systems. You will align engineering, product, and content partners to design durable workflows and manage risks across multiple teams.

You will partner with leaders to set KPIs, establish operating cadences, and drive fast, high-quality delivery at scale. This role is based in the U.S. with flexibility for hub locations in major cities.

Qualifications

• Experience in program or operations management leading complex, cross-functional initiatives end-to-end in product, platform, content, or operations domains.
• Track record of designing and scaling systems or workflows that improved speed, quality, and efficiency across multiple teams or markets at scale.
• Ability to create clarity from ambiguity, drive alignment without authority, and make ROI-focused decisions.
• Strong operational rigor: you set clear goals, define SLAs/KPIs, manage risk and dependencies, and communicate crisply with executives and partners.
• Technical fluency partnering with engineering to shape specs, roadmaps, and tooling for scale; comfortable with data to inform prioritization and tradeoffs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and experience working with stakeholders across Engineering, Learning & Curriculum, Product, and Finance.
• The ability to work from or relocate to Pittsburgh, PA or New York City, NY.

Responsibilities

• Lead high-leverage, cross-functional programs from definition through launch and scale, creating clarity in ambiguous problem spaces.
• Design and implement durable, tech-forward workflows and standards that reduce manual effort and enable reliable, repeatable execution at scale.
• Orchestrate execution across multiple teams, sequencing dependencies, managing risk, and establishing SLAs, KPIs, and operating cadences that keep programs on track.
• Build decision frameworks and business cases that balance impact, scale, cost, complexity, and confidence; model tradeoffs and recommend paths forward.
• Shrink “time to launch” and “time to scale” by introducing process improvements, documentation, and tooling that pave the road behind each release.
• Partner closely with engineering to mature systems for stability, observability, and resilience; define specs and roadmaps where needed to support scale.
• Align functions early and often to surface risks, close context gaps, and reduce surprises; serve as the connective tissue enabling fast, confident delivery.
• Measure outcomes rigorously and iterate: set success metrics, run post-launch assessments, and turn bespoke wins into adaptable workstreams.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Scale systems

Operational rigor

Technical fluency

Stakeholder communication

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...

Scaling Operations is Duolingo’s 1-to-a-billion function. We turn promising ideas into reliable, scalable systems so teams can move faster without multiplying headcount or complexity. As a Senior Scaling Operations Program Manager, you’ll be an embedded operational and strategic partner who owns cross-functional programs from ambiguity to impact. You will design and run workflows, align engineering, product, and content partners, and measure what matters so we can launch faster, scale smarter, and increase quality with less effort. This role is based in Pittsburgh, PA or New York City, NY.

You will...

• Lead high-leverage, cross-functional programs from definition through launch and scale, creating clarity in ambiguous problem spaces and driving decisions across stakeholders in Engineering, Learning & Curriculum, and Product.
• Design and implement durable, tech-forward workflows and standards that reduce manual effort and enable reliable, repeatable execution at scale.
• Orchestrate execution across multiple teams, sequencing dependencies, managing risk, and establishing SLAs, KPIs, and operating cadences that keep programs on track.
• Build decision frameworks and business cases that balance impact, scale, cost, complexity, and confidence; model tradeoffs and recommend paths forward.
• Shrink “time to launch” and “time to scale” by introducing process improvements, documentation, and tooling that pave the road behind each release.
• Partner closely with engineering to mature systems for stability, observability, and resilience; define specs and roadmaps where needed to support scale.
• Align functions early and often to surface risks, close context gaps, and reduce surprises; serve as the connective tissue enabling fast, confident delivery.
• Measure outcomes rigorously and iterate: set success metrics, run post-launch assessments, and turn bespoke wins into adaptable workstreams.

You have...

• Experience in program or operations management leading complex, cross-functional initiatives end-to-end in product, platform, content, or operations domains.
• A track record of designing and scaling systems or workflows that improved speed, quality, and efficiency across multiple teams or markets at the scale of millions of users.
• Demonstrated ability to create clarity from ambiguity, drive alignment without authority, and make sound, ROI-focused decisions.
• Strong operational rigor: you set clear goals, define SLAs/KPIs, manage risk and dependencies, and communicate crisply with executives and partners.
• Technical fluency partnering with engineering to shape specs, roadmaps, and tooling for scale; comfortable with data to inform prioritization and tradeoffs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and experience working with stakeholders across Engineering, Learning & Curriculum, Product, and Finance.
• The ability to work from or relocate to Pittsburgh, PA or New York City, NY.

Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience rapidly scaling operations or content across many languages, markets, or products, with measurable improvements in time-to-launch, time-to-scale or quality.
• Proven wins turning 0-to-1 programs into durable systems, including establishing evaluation loops, automation, or expert workflows.
• Experience building decision frameworks that enabled shifts to ne