Job Description
Who you are Experience leading, managing, and building a team of software engineers A track record of owning multi‑engineer, multi‑week technical projects to successful outcomes in a highly experimental, data‑driven environment Strong product instincts and excellent written/verbal communication, with experience aligning diverse stakeholders across engineering, product, design, and analytics Experience working closely with data, experimentation, or machine learning teams to inform prioritization and ship measurable impact (direct ML expertise not required) Demonstrated ability to raise the bar on engineering practices for reliability, scalability, and observability Prior experience with advertising platforms, ad tech integrations, or building ad surfaces in mobile apps Experience improving ad quality and monetization through experimentation, targeting, or programmatic levers, in partnership with business teams Familiarity with COPPA‑compliant or kid‑friendly ad solutions and the trade‑offs of untargeted inventory Background collaborating with sales/biz ops on direct or programmatic campaigns and translating market feedback into product improvements Experience leading teams that span multiple platforms (iOS, Android, backend) and partnering on ML‑powered personalization within consumer apps What the job involves Duolingo's Monetization pillar builds the systems that fund our mission — from subscription packaging and advertising to ML-powered personalization, performance marketing, and beyond As a Senior Engineering Manager, you'll lead a cross-functional product engineering team working on high-impact, revenue-generating systems that help Duolingo grow sustainably while keeping the product playful, transparent, and learner-first Your team will build and scale systems across ads and paid growth — building signal and audience pipelines, powering creative experimentation, improving ad quality, optimizing budget allocation, and strengthening attribution and ROI guardrails You'll partner closely with product, design, data science, machine learning, and marketing to define strategy and deliver results Just as importantly, you'll create an environment where engineers do the best work of their careers — coaching, developing talent, and fostering a high-performing team culture Co-lead a cross-functional pod with Product and Marketing to define strategy, success metrics, and an execution roadmap for Duolingo’s performance marketing engine, aligned to ROI guardrails and retained-user growth goals Build and evolve the engineering systems that power paid growth at scale: creative experiment frameworks, audience/signal ingestion and privacy-safe list management, budget and bid optimization tooling, and reliable attribution and reporting pipelines Collaborate with data science and ML partners to design experiments, apply personalization/targeting, and translate insights into product improvements and bookings growth Own planning and execution for projects that directly impact revenue; identify the right team‑level metrics to optimize and protect delivery through clear milestones and risk management Bring both technical and product perspectives to new ideas, enabling rapid hypothesis testing without sacrificing reliability, observability, or long‑term maintainability Set and uphold engineering quality standards and practices that improve reliability, scalability, and operability across Ads systems Benefits Medical, dental, and vision for employees as well as eligible partners and dependents Mental health benefits such as therapy sessions and coaching to support you to be your best self Fertility benefits to support your family planning journey Fully paid parental and adoption leave Fully paid subscription to Care.com and paid backup days for dependents and your fur family 401(k) with generous match and immediate vesting 20 days of paid time off, with two additional weeks off for winter break First-time home buyer bonus (in Pittsburgh) Competitive salaries and equity Yearly stipend for professional development Transportation reimbursement for however you get to work Lunch prepared daily by our in-house chefs Annual international retreat for all full-time employees Monthly events celebrating our team and their amazing work On-site gym and massages Game room for taking brain breaks