Staff Technical Program Manager

Duolingo; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 182,000 - 272,000; Full time

Job summary

Duolingo in New York City is seeking a high-impact TPM to lead Growth initiatives and partner with engineering and product leadership. You will drive cross-functional programs, shape strategic roadmaps, and ensure alignment across senior leaders while delivering measurable business outcomes.

The role requires strong technical credibility, experience guiding large programs, and a track record of implementing new practices in ambiguous environments. Relocation to NYC is expected.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a TPM, Engineering Lead, or Engineering Manager.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale technical transformation programs with measurable organizational impact.
• Strong executive presence and influence in a matrix environment.
• Deep technical credibility to challenge architectural assumptions and earn engineers’ trust.
• Proven ability to build and implement detailed plans amid ambiguity and dependencies.
• Track record of standing up new programs or practices in high-visibility settings.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the roadmap for high-impact cross-functional initiatives in Growth, aligning leadership around a shared vision and outcomes.
• Lead organizational change management as engineering teams adopt new ways of working and communicate progress to executives and ICs.
• Lead the delivery of strategic cross-functional initiatives from concept to launch with autonomy across multiple streams.
• Partner with engineering, product, data science, QA, and executives to ensure clear communication and alignment.
• Develop detailed plans with milestones, identify risks, and mitigate blockers to ensure timely launches.
• Make tough tradeoff decisions with broad impact, modeling rigorous, analytical decision-making.
• Identify systemic delivery issues and drive collaborative actions to resolve them.
• Guide and mentor other TPMs and engineering leads to scale best practices.

Skills

TPM experience

CS degree

Transformation programs

Executive presence

Technical credibility

Detailed planning

New programs from scratch

Relocate to NYC

Education

B.S./M.S. in CS

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...

This is a high-impact L4 TPM role based in New York City, starting in one of Duolingo's fastest-moving pillars: Growth. You'll partner closely with engineering and product leadership to drive complex, cross-functional initiatives that span multiple teams and require someone who can bring structure, alignment, and momentum. Beyond Growth, Duolingo has a growing engineering and product presence in New York, and this role puts you at the center of it, building relationships with senior leaders on the ground and taking on high-ROI initiatives across the org as they come.

This is a role for someone who operates at the strategic level: identifying opportunities, shaping programs, and driving outcomes that matter to the business. If you thrive in ambiguity, build trust quickly across engineering and product, and want to have real impact at a company whose product is used by hundreds of millions of people, this role is for you.

• Define and drive the roadmap for high-impact, cross-functional initiatives in the Growth pillar and beyond, aligning engineering and product leadership around a shared vision, sequencing the work, and holding teams accountable to outcomes.
• Lead organizational change management as engineering teams adopt new ways of working — building alignment, communicating progress to executives and ICs alike, and helping teams internalize new processes and tooling.
• Lead the delivery of strategic, high-impact cross-functional initiatives from conceptualization to launch, operating with significant autonomy across multiple workstreams.
• Partner with engineering, product, data science, QA, and executive leadership to ensure communication and alignment; serve as the connective tissue between Duolingo strategy and day-to-day execution.
• Leverage deep technical expertise to develop detailed plans with key milestones and goals, identify and mitigate risks, resolve dependencies, remove blockers, and ensure timely and smooth launches.
• Drive decisions when difficult tradeoffs must be made, including those with cross-organizational or company-level impact; model how to navigate hard problems with analytical rigor and a calm, decisive presence.
• Identify systemic issues impacting delivery efficiency company-wide and take swift, collaborative action to resolve them.
• Guide and develop other TPMs and engineering leads, scaling best practices across teams and continuously improving how the organization operates.

You have...

• Proven experience as a TPM, Engineering Lead, or Engineering Manager.
• B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or equivalent degree or experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale technical transformation programs with measurable organizational impact - you've shifted how engineering organizations think and work, not just shipped projects.
• Strong executive presence and influence in a matrix environment - able to build conviction among skeptics, align competing priorities across senior leadership, and drive decisions without direct authority.
• Deep technical credibility - enough to challenge architectural assumptions, spot delivery risks early, and earn the trust of strong engineers.
• Proven ability to build and implement detailed plans that account for ambiguity, dependencies, and technical complexity - and to re-plan quickly when things change, without losing team confidence or momentum.
• A track record of standing up new programs or practices from scratch in ambiguous, high-visibility environments.
• Ability to relocate to NYC.

Exceptional candidates will have...

• Strong knowledge of software engineering, systems engineering, or similar hands‑on technical experience, in addition to program management experience.
• Strong conceptual fluency in LLM-based products and AI infrastructure - enough to ask the right questions, challenge technical assumptions, and identify delivery risks.
• Experience running programs that include machine learning, large datasets, or AI/ML infrastructure.
• Experience working with AWS at scale.

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.

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:

$181,600 — $272,400 USD