Account Management Lead, Ads

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...

Join us to build Duolingo Ads, Duolingo’s direct ad business.

Duolingo is used by over 135 million users every month to learn languages, music, math, and chess. The vast majority of our learners engage with the free, ad-supported version of our app, which is core to our mission of delivering a learning experience that is accessible to all.

We are seeking an Account Management Lead to support our growing advertising business, Duolingo Ads. This is a player-coach role that reports into our Head of Ad Sales. You'll play a key role in driving Duolingo Ads’ growth by owning the pre and post sale process alongside the sales team. You’ll collaborate with sales leadership and the cross-functional ads team to ensure optimal client service, hire and manage a team of contractors, and develop and implement operational workflows and strategies to ensure streamlined internal operations and excellent client service. This position offers a unique, early-stage opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of ads on Duolingo for hundreds of millions of learners. The Account Management Lead will be an operational powerhouse that can flex into revenue operations with a focus on foundational work that improves our sales operations and use of CRM.

🧠  You will...

• Serve as the senior point of contact for live campaigns, leading cross‑functional execution from signed IO through launch, optimization, billing, and wrap—driving on‑time, on‑scope delivery and client satisfaction.
• Build and maintain AM playbooks, SLAs, and workflows for kickoffs, asset QA, trafficking handoffs, pacing/performance checks, optimizations, and recaps; evolve processes as we scale volume and formats.
• Partner with Ad Ops to launch and monitor campaigns, ensuring accurate trafficking, healthy pacing, and proactive issue resolution; translate performance data into clear client‑ready insights and actions.
• Own client communications during flight: weekly status, performance storytelling, and clear recommendations that protect user experience while meeting advertiser goals.
• Collaborate with Sales on pre‑sale inputs (timelines, feasibility, deliverables) and post‑sale growth (upsell/renewal opportunities), informing pricing, packaging, and format improvements with market feedback.
• Establish quality bars and review mechanisms for ad creative and native formats that align with Duolingo’s brand standards and learner delight; coordinate approvals with Legal and Creative as needed.
• Implement lightweight operating systems and documentation (CRM/OMS hygiene, trackers, calendars) to improve accuracy, forecastability, and handoffs across teams; coach AM contributors and vendors to these standards.
• Develop clear success metrics and own wrap reports that synthesize results, insights, and next steps to set up renewals and long‑term partnerships.

✅  You have...

• 8+ years in digital advertising account management/client services, including hands‑on post‑sale ownership at a publisher, tech platform, or media/creative agency.
• Proven track record launching and managing multi‑stakeholder campaigns end‑to‑end, partnering tightly with Sales and Ad Ops to deliver against flight, pacing, and performance goals.
• Strong project management and communication skills; comfortable running high‑volume programs with precision, clear status, and crisp stakeholder alignment.
• Ability to translate data into narratives and recommendations; experienced in building client‑ready recaps that drive renewals and upsells.
• Working knowledge of ad tech and mobile app ecosystems (e.g., ad servers, programmatic/measurement basics) and familiarity with video and native/custom formats.
• Comfort operating in an early‑stage, fast‑moving environment; you create structure, documentation, and repeatable processes from scratch.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace and collaboration tools; experience maintaining CRM/OMS records and campaign trackers with high accuracy.

⭐  Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience building AM playbooks and SLAs for a new or rapidly scaling direct ads business (0→1/1→N).
• Background managing native/custom/branded content programs and coordinating creative development with internal design/creative partners.
• Hands‑on OMS/CRM experience (e.g., Boostr or similar) and comfort improving hygiene/forecasting workflows and flexing into RevOps work
• Experience mentoring or leading a small AM team or vendor network, including setting standards and coaching to excellence.