Director, Talent Acquisition – Sourcing

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...

Duolingo is seeking a Director, Talent Acquisition – Sourcing to lead and evolve how we identify, engage, and build relationships with top talent. This role sits within Talent Acquisition and focuses on improving sourcing strategy and effectiveness, elevating team capabilities, and delivering strong pipelines against hiring priorities. You will partner closely with Recruiting leaders, Hiring Managers, and Function Leads to translate business needs into actionable sourcing strategies, using data and market insights to drive continuous improvement.

🧠 You will...

• Develop and implement sourcing strategies across priority roles and functions, ensuring consistent, high‑quality pipelines aligned to hiring needs.

• Collaborate with recruiters and hiring managers to calibrate target profiles and translate hiring goals into actionable sourcing plans that complement broader recruiting strategies.

• Build and maintain proactive pipelines for high‑priority and hard-to‑fill roles, including structured approaches to candidate engagement and re‑engagement.

• Identify opportunities to improve tools, workflows, and processes within sourcing; test and implement new approaches that increase efficiency and candidate quality.

• Define and track key sourcing metrics (e.g., pipeline health, conversion, efficiency), using data and market insights to identify gaps, adjust strategies, and provide visibility into impact.

• Coach and support recruiters and sourcers on best practices to raise the bar on sourcing quality, candidate engagement, and market insights.

• Lead cross‑functional initiatives that reduce friction in the hiring funnel, drive adoption of improvements, and increase overall sourcing effectiveness.

✅ You have...

• 10+ years of experience in sourcing, recruiting, or talent acquisition within high‑growth or tech environments, including 3+ years managing people.

• A track record of solving complex recruiting challenges and leading initiatives from strategy through execution.

• Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills with the ability to influence stakeholders and drive alignment.

• Demonstrated ability to use data and market insights to inform decisions and improve outcomes.

• Experience improving processes, tools, and ways of working within recruiting or sourcing organizations.

• Clear, direct communication skills and sound judgment, including navigating and delivering difficult messages when needed.

• Ability to work from or relocate to Pittsburgh, PA or New York, NY.

⭐ Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience building structured talent communities and long‑term engagement programs that convert to hires.

• Hands‑on evaluation and rollout of sourcing technologies, ATS/CRM integrations, and workflow improvements.

• Demonstrated success scaling sourcing practices across a recruiting team or function.

• Advanced capability building for sourcers and recruiters (playbooks, training, rubrics) with measurable uplift in pipeline quality.

• Comfort operating at the L4 director scope: high autonomy, domain leadership, and cross‑functional influence within Talent Acquisition.

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!

Salary Range:

$163,200—$244,800 USD

Benefits: Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits here.Job Alerts: Sign up for job alerts here.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 accommodations@duolingo.com.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 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.By applying for this position your data will be processed as per the Duolingo Applicant Privacy Notice.