Performance Marketing Lead

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 Performance Marketing Lead to own and drive Duolingo’s global user acquisition campaigns across 100+ markets. In this hands-on role, you’ll be directly responsible for running and optimizing mobile acquisition at scale, supporting an eight-figure annual budget in close partnership with our agency partners and internal teams. This is a unique opportunity to do high-impact, executional work on one of the world’s most beloved and innovative brands, reaching millions of learners worldwide.

🧠 You will...

• Own day-to-day execution of global performance marketing campaigns, with a primary focus on mobile user acquisition and growth.
• Strategically run and optimize mobile install campaigns across major platforms—such as Google UAC and AppLovin—focusing on high-quality installs, efficient spend, and sustainable global growth.
• Manage and hold accountable Duolingo’s performance marketing agency partners, ensuring alignment on goals, pacing, and quality of execution.
• Leverage deep, data-driven insights to guide decisions, constantly improving key KPIs like CPI, retention, and monetization metrics.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with teams across Marketing Analytics, Creative, Engineering, and Finance to align efforts and maximize impact.
• Champion a culture of experimentation, continuously testing new channels, creative approaches, and optimization strategies to unlock new growth opportunities.
• Develop and present strategic recommendations to marketing leadership, translating campaign performance into actionable insights and proposals.

✅ You have...

• 7+ years of experience running large-scale, global mobile acquisition campaigns.
• Strong analytical skills, with expertise in mobile attribution and marketing analytics.
• A successful track record of owning and optimizing large performance marketing budgets with direct, hands-on execution.
• Deep knowledge of the mobile user acquisition ecosystem, including platforms, attribution technologies, industry trends, and best practices.
• Exceptional ability to translate data into strategy and clearly communicate findings to stakeholders at all levels.
• Experience working with and managing agency partners to deliver against performance targets.
• A strong drive to make an impact, a hands-on approach to experimentation, a low-ego attitude, and a genuine passion for teamwork and collaboration.

⭐ Exceptional candidates will have...

• STEM degree.
• Experience in running performance marketing for a top subscription-based mobile app.
• Familiarity with incremental measurement methodologies (e.g., geo-lift, incrementality testing, media mix modeling).
• A passion about Duolingo’s mission to make education universally accessible.

We post a multi-level salary range for all of our roles.

This is not inclusive of the rest of our awesome portfolio that includes equity compensation and world-class benefits. Our salary ranges are the same for all US locations. Your recruiter can share more details about the range for a specific level during the hiring process. The actual salary within the range is determined by many factors including but not limited to, skills, experience, education, and internal equity.

Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits here.

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 [contact via apply link].

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.

By applying for this position your data will be processed as per the Duolingo Applicant Privacy Notice.

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.

Sign up for job alerts here.