Director of Learning Design, Language Learning

<p>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!</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Join our life-changing mission to develop education for our half a billion (and growing!) learners around the world. </p> <p style="text-align: left;">Read <a href="https://blog.duolingo.com/?utm_source=greenhouse.comutm_medium=referralutm_campaign=generalblog_gh_091224">our blog</a> to learn more.</p> <hr> <h2><strong>About the role</strong></h2> <p>As Director of Learning Design for Language Learning, you will set the pedagogical vision and execution strategy for Duolingo’s<strong> </strong>language-learning experiences — driving learning impact, curriculum quality, and innovation at global scale. You’ll lead a team of multi-disciplinary learning designers, and partner with product leadership to ship delightful, effective learning in the Duolingo style. This job is based in Pittsburgh.</p> <p><strong>🧠 You will...</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Ship effective learning at scale:</strong> partner with Product, Design, and Engineering to translate pedagogy into fun and motivating in‑app experiences that build listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills</li> <li><strong>Lead and develop a world‑class team</strong> of learning designers, leveling up their craft, velocity, and effectiveness</li> <li><strong>Drive an experiment‑led practice:</strong> help design outcome‑focused A/B tests, align on success metrics (e.g., CEFR-aligned progress, retention, speaking/writing gains), and assist with analyzing learning and engagement impact</li> <li><strong>Establish content quality systems</strong> (guidelines, rubrics, review workflows) that ensure linguistic accuracy, difficulty calibration, and a high-quality bar across language courses</li> <li>Lead through example by <strong>using AI </strong>to improve your craft, and encouraging your team to do the same</li> <li><strong>Explore the future of language teaching:</strong> develop and validate roadmaps for new skills, modes, and curricula that extend Duolingo’s impact</li> </ul> <p><strong>✅ You have...</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Depth in language learning design</strong>: extensive experience (typically 10+ years) designing language curricula or consumer learning products, with proven impact at scale</li> <li><strong>People leadership</strong>: 5+ years leading multi‑disciplinary teams; experience managing managers and establishing high‑bar standards</li> <li><strong>Product sense</strong>: an instinct for creating simple, delightful, and intuitive user experiences</li> <li><strong>Operational rigor</strong>: proficiency in large-scale content operations, QA processes, and tooling to maintain quality across many languages, ideally including experience with human‑in‑the‑loop AI workflows</li> <li><strong>Outstanding communication</strong>: clear, kind, and persuasive across audiences, including executive and cross‑functional</li> </ul> <p><strong>⭐ Exceptional candidates will have...</strong></p> <ul> <li>Graduate degree in Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, TESOL, Linguistics, Learning Science, Cognitive Science, HCI, or a relevant language field; familiarity with proficiency frameworks (e.g., CEFR, ACTFL) and assessment</li> <li>A track record of partnering with product, design, and engineering to ship lovable, effective features on mobile</li> </ul> <hr><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p><strong>We post a multi-level salary range for all of our roles.</strong></p> <p><em>This is not inclusive of the rest of our aweso ... (truncated, view full listing at source)