Creative Director (Marketing)

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. 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.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Creative Director to set the creative vision for Duolingo’s brand building and marketing efforts and lead a team that delivers culturally resonant, high‑impact work across campaigns, social, partnerships, and user acquisition. You will raise the creative bar, turn bold ideas into clear concepts, and guide execution from brief through launch—collaborating closely with Brand Marketing and Growth, International Marketing, Product, Design, BD, and global agency partners to build an iconic brand with measurable business impact. Reporting to the CMO, this role will lead other creative leaders in the Marketing function.

You Will

• Drive all creative work in the Marketing function, ensuring it consistently ladders up to the company strategy and moves key brand and business metrics.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of creatives; set a high bar for craft, narrative, and taste while creating space for diverse voices and experimentation.
• Turn great ideas into end‑to‑end campaign concepts; guide direction across channels (social, video, experiential, partnerships), from insight to execution.
• Partner with Brand Marketing to shape briefs, make strategic trade‑offs, and deliver work that’s part of culture and drives brand love and growth.
• Partner with Growth Marketing to build a performance marketing creative studio enabling our user acquisition efforts across the globe.
• Partner with our Country Marketing team to lead and evolve our global agency roster; ensure scopes, standards, and handoffs produce A+ creative worldwide.
• Oversee creative feedback and quality across all project stages; provide clear, timely decisions that keep momentum without sacrificing excellence.
• Inspire the organization with industry trends, creative references, and new platforms; codify what’s “on‑brand” and how we measure brand success.

You Have

• 12+ years in brand/creative roles with significant time leading other creative leaders; proven success shipping integrated campaigns across a wide range of budgets at a high bar.
• Demonstrated ability to set vision, influence senior stakeholders, and connect creative decisions to strategy, KPIs, and ROI.
• A track record of turning insights into iconic, culture‑driving ideas and guiding multi‑disciplinary teams from concept to launch.
• Excellent communication and feedback skills; you simplify complex topics, make fast, sound calls, and bring others along.
• Experience managing agencies and external partners across markets, with a reputation for raising quality and speed.
• The ability to work from or relocate to New York City or London, UK.

Exceptional Candidates Will Have

• Experience working with IP‑led brands.
• Global brand experience, including creative leadership across multiple regions and cultures.
• A portfolio demonstrating world‑class craft and storytelling—work that drives buzz and earned media attention instead of relying on paid channels for distribution.
• Deep familiarity with social media and creator ecosystems, and how to translate cultural signals into breakthrough brand ideas.
• Experience establishing clear creative operating mechanisms with marketing, product, and design partners.

Duolingo is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, colour, 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.