Greenhouse ·
full-timeStaff Technical Program Manager
Duolingo · New York, NY
Duolingo is a company in the education technology space dedicated to making learning universally accessible through its platform. As a Staff Technical Program Manager based in New York, you will serve as a critical bridge between engineering, product, and data science teams, specifically focusing on the Growth pillar. Your day-to-day responsibilities involve defining and driving roadmaps for complex, cross-functional initiatives, managing organizational change, and ensuring alignment between executive leadership and individual contributors. You will be expected to operate with significant autonomy, identifying systemic bottlenecks, mitigating technical risks, and navigating difficult trade-offs to ensure successful product launches. This role is well-suited for an experienced technical leader who thrives in ambiguous environments and possesses the executive presence to influence stakeholders without direct authority. The ideal candidate has a strong technical background, allowing them to engage deeply with engineering teams, challenge architectural assumptions, and mentor other program managers while scaling best practices across the organization.
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. 🧠 You will... 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. 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 encou
| Role | Staff Technical Program Manager |
|---|---|
| Company | Duolingo |
| Location | New York, NY |
| Type | full-time |
| Compensation | Not disclosed |
| Posted | 2026-10-07 |
| Deadline | Rolling |
Typical process for this type of role
A general guide — the exact steps for this specific listing may vary; check the original posting for details.
- 1ApplicationSubmit your resume through the apply link.
- 2ScreeningRecruiter reviews your background against the role.
- 3AssessmentA technical test, assignment, or coding round, depending on the role.
- 4Interview(s)One or more rounds with the hiring team.
- 5OfferOffer letter with compensation and start date.
Before you apply
0/4More at Duolingo
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