Duolingo
Staff Technical Program Manager
Edtech.com's Summary
- Lead strategic initiatives to double developer productivity across Duolingo’s engineering organization.
- Drive organizational change management and adoption of new processes and tools.
- Collaborate with Developer Amplification team to integrate AI-powered tooling and maintain momentum.
- Manage high-visibility cross-functional projects from concept through launch.
- Partner with engineering, product, data science, QA, and executive leadership for alignment and communication.
- Use deep technical expertise to plan, mitigate risks, and remove blockers for timely delivery.
- Coach TPMs and engineering leads on new engineering practices and productivity measurement.
- 10+ years of TPM, engineering lead, or engineering manager experience required.
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience.
- Strong executive presence and ability to influence senior leadership in a matrix environment.
- Preferred experience includes hands-on software or systems engineering, AI/ML infrastructure, large-scale AWS environments, and knowledge of LLM-based products.
- Salary range from $181,600 to $272,400 USD, supplemented by equity compensation.
Staff Technical Program Manager Full Description
Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Itâs a big mission, and thatâs where you come in!
At Duolingo, youâll 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. Youâll have limitless learning opportunities, mentorship and collaboration with world-class minds, and a variety of projects with large scopes â while doing work thatâs 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, high-visibility Staff TPM role at the center of one of Duolingo's most strategic engineering initiatives: dramatically reducing the effort required to get results and doubling developer productivity across the organization. You'll lead this initiative in close partnership with the Developer Amplification (DevAmp) Area, a team dedicated to accelerating how engineers work through better tooling, streamlined processes, and modern engineering practices. AI is one important lever â but the goal is the outcome: step-change improvements in how fast and effectively Duolingo engineers can build. This role is for a builder and a change agent: someone who can define what "doubling productivity" means in practice, align leadership and engineering teams around it, and drive the transformation to completion. If you thrive in ambiguity, have a bias for outcomes, and can bring people along through significant organizational change, this role is for you.
ð§ You will...
- Define and drive the roadmap for doubling developer productivity across Duolingo â aligning engineering, product, and data science around a shared vision, sequencing the work, and holding teams accountable to measurable outcomes.
- Lead organizational change management as engineering teams adopt new ways of working â building alignment, communicating progress to executives and ICs alike, and helping teams internalize new processes and tooling.
- Partner closely with Developer Amplification (DevAmp) Area leads to accelerate developer productivity through AI-powered tooling, ensuring programs have clear goals, measurable impact, and sustained momentum across engineering squads.
- 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.
- Establish and evangelize engineering practices that drive step-change improvements in developer productivity â coaching engineering leads and TPMs on new ways of working and how to measure their impact.
- 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.
â You have...
- 10+ years of 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 â you've shifted how engineering organizations think and work, not just shipped projects.
- Strong executive presence and influence in a matrix environment â able to build conviction among skeptics, align competing priorities across senior leadership, and drive decisions without direct authority.
- Deep technical credibility â 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 â 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 Seattle, WA.
â Exceptional candidates will have...
- 10+ years of software engineering, systems engineering, or similar hands-on technical experience, in addition to program management experience.
- Strong conceptual fluency in LLM-based products, AI infrastructure, and developer AI tooling - 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.
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 weâll 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.
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