Staff Data Scientist, Duolingo
Economics
$169.7-314.1k
+Equity
Language education platform
Open for applications
Language education platform
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$169.7-314.1k
+Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
Duolingo's mission is to give everyone access to a private tutor experience through technology, making learning fun and providing universal access to language education.
Role
Who you are
- PhD in Economics, Statistics, Data Science, or a related quantitative field
- 8 + years of work experience using analytics to solve product or business problems, coding (e.g., Python, R, SQL), querying databases, and economics/statistical modeling
- Exceptional problem-solving abilities and the capacity to translate complex data into actionable insights
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with both technical and non-technical partners
- Able to relocate to or work in our New York or Pittsburgh office
Desirable
- Strong experience in developing and implementing an analytic vision to solve business-relevant problems
- Ability to lead multiple complex work streams and develop partnerships across organizational boundaries
- Experience with "big data" and cloud computing technologies like Redshift, Hadoop, Hive, BigQuery
- Effective storytelling ability with experience leading business conversations with senior leadership
- Experience at a high-growth company that has undertaken an IPO
- An impressive Duolingo XP or streak!
What the job involves
- We’re looking for an outstanding technical leader in economics and data science who specializes in statistical modeling, causal inference, and/or structural analysis to advance data-centric decision-making at Duolingo
- The ideal candidate will collaborate closely with executive leadership in Engineering, Finance, Product Management, and DET to develop and deliver metrics, attribution models, and actionable business analyses
- They will evangelize scientific methods and influence strategic business decisions, with an appreciation for the behaviors of Duolingo and DET users. They will be a strong advocate and mentor for the Data Science & Analytics team and help advance their learning, creativity, and growth
- Lead the cycle of translating ideas from concept to production-grade economic models and data science solutions, ensuring long-term viability and robustness
- Apply advanced analytical methods, structural approaches, causal inference, and/or machine learning to model user behavior, and collaborate with product and engineering teams to develop scalable business frameworks and solutions
- Understand and lead the process of gathering, extracting, and compiling data across sources via relevant tools (e.g., SQL, R, Python). Independently format, re-structure, and/or validate data to ensure quality
- Collaborate with data engineers and business intelligence to turn insights into data products (e.g. data pipelines, algorithms, self-service dashboards)
- Effectively communicate findings and insights to executive partners and collaborate with product development teams to integrate them into decision-making
- Stay informed about advancements in applied economics and statistical methodologies to drive enhancements in internal tooling and methods at Duolingo
- Provide guidance and mentorship to the Data Science & Analytics team, fostering an environment of excellence, innovation, and collaboration
Our take
Duolingo is a free to use language learning app, offering 95 courses across 38 distinct languages. It is the most downloaded education app in the history of the App Store and has previously been awarded Apple's iPhone App of the Year and Android's Best of the Best.
With over 500 million learners, the company has unprecedented data insights on how people learn. Its team of language learning scientists, machine learning engineers, and AI experts use this data to constantly improve its effectiveness.
Alongside language courses, the company has created the Duolingo English Test which is an affordable and convenient language certification option accepted by more than 2,000 universities and institutions worldwide. Since its 2021 IPO, Duolingo has shown strong momentum and regular changes to the app have brought increased user engagement, retention, and stronger conversion.
Kirsty
Company Specialist
Insights
Many candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
54% female employees
15% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Nov 2020
$35m
LATE VC
Apr 2020
$10m
LATE VC
Total funding: $183.3m
Company benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision for employees as well as eligible partners and dependents
- Mental health benefits such as therapy sessions and coaching to support you to be your best self
- Fertility benefits to support your family planning journey
- Fully paid parental and adoption leave
- Fully paid subscription to Care.com and paid backup days for dependents and your fur family
- 401(k) with generous match and immediate vesting
- 20 days of paid time off, with two additional weeks off for winter break
- First-time home buyer bonus (in Pittsburgh)
- Competitive salaries and equity
- Yearly stipend for professional development
- Transportation reimbursement for however you get to work
- Lunch prepared daily by our in-house chefs
- Annual international retreat for all full-time employees
- Monthly events celebrating our team and their amazing work
- On-site gym and massages
- Game room for taking brain breaks
Company values
- Learners First - Our mission and reason for existing is to make sure everyone in the world has access to high-quality education
- Take The Long View - If it works in the short-term but hurts Duolingo in the long-term, it's not right. We make decisions that keep us moving toward our big goals
- Prioritize Ruthlessly - We have millions of learners and only hundreds of employees, so our work must focus on initiatives that have high return on investment. Make your time matter
- Ship It - For a good idea to become reality, it needs a plan and a sense of urgency. So go go go!
- Test Everything - We measure and test everything so we can make informed decisions based on data
- We Haven’t Won Yet - Until every person who wants to learn is doing so with Duolingo, we need to keep innovating, pushing the envelope, and learning ways to get better
- Strive For Excellence - To change how the world learns, we must do world-class work. From the people we hire to the features we ship, we never settle for just okay
- All For One, One For All - We stay engaged and make choices that benefit the greater good-because Duolingo's success is our success
- Be Candid And Kind - We build things together with transparency and care for each other. We offer feedback compassionately but with excellence in mind, and receive it openly and as an opportunity to grow
Company HQ
East Liberty, Pittsburgh, PA
Articles
Leadership
Luis von Ahn
(CEO)Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and founder of CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA sold to Google.
Severin Hacker
(CTO)PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.
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