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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...
We're looking for a Lead Recruiter to own product hiring at Duolingo — partnering directly with our Chief Product Officer to build and shape the Product org from the ground up. This isn't just executing on a req list. You'll help define what great looks like, influence how we think about product talent, and build the processes and relationships that make hiring a competitive advantage. If you love blending strategy with hands-on execution, operating at the intersection of recruiting and business, and leaving your fingerprints on a world-class team, this is the role for you.
🧠 You will...
- Own full-cycle recruiting for Product roles at all levels — ICs to senior leaders — building deep pipelines and consistently closing top talent.
- Be a true partner to the CPO, shaping hiring strategy, prioritizing roles, and helping define what great Product talent looks like at Duolingo.
- Lead and influence without direct authority, working across recruiting, sourcing, and business stakeholders to align processes, calibrate expectations, and drive outcomes.
- Drive sourcing strategy (roughly 25–30% of your time), going beyond inbound to build proactive outreach for senior and hard-to-fill roles.
- Use data to tell the story — diagnosing pipeline health, surfacing insights to leadership, and making decisions that balance speed with quality.
- Champion the candidate experience from first touch to offer close, making sure every interaction reflects Duolingo's brand and values.
- Build the infrastructure — whether that's interview frameworks, leveling guidance, or hiring playbooks — that scales beyond you.
✅ You have...
- Ability to work onsite in New York, NY, Monday–Thursday, with Friday optional
- 7+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with meaningful depth in Product hiring
- Experience partnering closely with senior leaders (VP/C-suite) to shape org strategy, not just fill seats
- A track record of hiring across levels — from PMs to Directors to VPs — with strong judgment on what "great" looks like at each
- Comfort operating in ambiguity, with the ownership mindset to create structure where it doesn't exist
- Strong data fluency — you know how to use pipeline metrics to drive conversations and influence decisions
⭐ Exceptional candidates will have...
- Experience leading or mentoring a recruiting team, even informally
- Deep market knowledge of the Product talent landscape, including how to position Duolingo competitively
- A history of building repeatable hiring systems that improve quality and efficiency at scale
- And, of course… an impressive Duolingo streak.
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!
Benefits: Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits here.
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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 [email protected].
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.
Duolingo New York, New York, USA Office
Our second largest office is located in the bustling financial district of NYC. Fun fact, Duo can often be seen at work from the city streets! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out our viral videos on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingo?lang=en)!
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