Principal Learning Scientist, Head of Efficacy Research

Duolingo•Pittsburgh, PA

About The Position

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 reaches hundreds of millions of learners worldwide, and the Efficacy Research Lab exists to answer a fundamental question: Does that learning actually last? This is one of the most important research programs in consumer education, with a scale, dataset, and real-world impact that few academic or industry environments can match. We’re looking for an exceptional research leader to guide the Lab through its next chapter, expanding its scope from Language into Math and future subjects. In this role, you will set the strategic vision for efficacy research at Duolingo, manage and develop a small team of researchers, and partner closely with senior leaders across the company. This is a hands-on leadership role: you’ll shape the agenda, lead high-impact work, and remain deeply involved in the science. This role is based in Pittsburgh or New York.

Requirements

Research leadership and scientific credibility. PhD in education, learning sciences, cognitive science, educational psychology, psychometrics, or a related field, plus 12+ years of relevant experience. You have led ambitious research programs evaluating the effectiveness of educational products or interventions and have a strong record of peer-reviewed publications and/or other influential research outputs.
Expertise in rigorous applied research. You can define a research agenda, design and evaluate studies using methods such as randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs, and large-scale observational analyses, and deliver findings that drive consequential decisions.
Industry judgment and pragmatism. You know how to apply high scientific standards in a product environment. You understand the tradeoffs between ideal and feasible research designs and can deliver credible, decision-useful insights on business and product timelines. Meaningful industry experience is required.
Deep understanding of learning. You have deep expertise in how people learn and can connect measured outcomes to the mechanisms that drive them, making you a trusted partner to product and learning teams.
Exceptional communication and influence. You communicate clearly and persuasively across audiences, from researchers and executives to external stakeholders, and can translate complex findings into actionable recommendations and compelling public narratives.
Advanced quantitative and technical skills. You bring deep expertise in statistics and quantitative methods, are fluent in R or Python, and are comfortable working with SQL and large-scale datasets.
People leadership. You have experience managing and developing researchers, setting a high bar for quality, and helping a small team do its best work.
Operational strength. You are highly organized and able to lead multiple research initiatives simultaneously across internal and external stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading efficacy research across multiple subject areas, such as language, math, or science.
Experience in EdTech and/or consumer technology.
Experience working with large-scale behavioral data in a product or consumer technology environment.
Experience serving as an external representative for a research organization, including with press, partners, or academic audiences.

Responsibilities

Set the vision and strategic direction for Duolingo’s Efficacy Research Lab, with language learning as the primary focus and a growing mandate across Math and future subject areas.
Lead the design and execution of rigorous efficacy research, from framing the right questions through study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and communication of results.
Serve as a player-coach to a team of 3 researchers: setting priorities, providing scientific guidance, and contributing directly to the work where your expertise has the greatest leverage.
Partner with Product, Learning Design, and company leadership to ensure efficacy research meaningfully informs product strategy and improves learner outcomes.
In collaboration with Marketing and Communications, shape how Duolingo communicates learning outcomes externally, translating rigorous research into clear, credible narratives for learners, parents, educators, partners, and the press.
Build and manage external research partnerships, from identifying collaborators and shaping proposals to overseeing execution and final deliverables.
Represent Duolingo externally as a thought leader in learning science and efficacy research.

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