Head of Licensing

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

Join us to build Duolingo’s licensing business.

Duolingo’s brand and IP are some of our most valuable assets. Duo, our green owl mascot, has helped us become a globally recognized brand, and we’ve built on Duo’s success to create a cast of characters, using distinctive animations and sounds.

The growing popularity of our brand and IP helps motivate our learners to use Duolingo every day.

Not only does each element of our IP help make our brand more iconic, but it also plays a distinct role in motivating our users to learn and have fun. We have bigger ambitions to make our IP as universally recognized and beloved as the world’s most popular brands and characters.

That’s where you come in! As our Head of Licensing (and first licensing hire), you will develop Duolingo’s licensing strategy and lead our licensing initiatives. You’ll drive the strategic use and commercialization of Duolingo’s IP and implement our first agreements with direct partners, licensing agents, and brand collaborators. Reporting into our Head of Business Development, you’ll collaborate closely with our Design, Marketing and Legal teams to ensure our licensing partners are delivering amazing, high-quality consumer products and experiences that delight our fans, elevate our brands, and inspire our colleagues.

You will...

• Define and develop Duolingo’s IP licensing strategy, aligning with our mission, brand values and business objectives
• Be the day-to-day central point for all things licensing, coordinating and collaborating with Design, Marketing, Legal and Business to implement licensing strategies that adhere to our design and brand guidelines, protect our IP and drive business metrics
• Identify, build, negotiate and maintain a pipeline of new and existing licensing opportunities globally and across categories/verticals to expand Duolingo’s brand presence and revenue streams
• Develop and drive brand partnerships that grow Duolingo’s brand awareness
• Monitor, analyze, and share partnership performance with licensees and internal stakeholders, working with Finance to forecast royalties, ensure proper accounting, and generate reports on the state of our licensing business
• Monitor market trends and perform competitive analyses to inform strategic decisions and identify emerging opportunities
• Create the presentations and documents necessary to pitch Duolingo's value proposition and deliver business updates to licensees and internal stakeholders
• Plan and execute Duolingo’s presence at relevant trade shows, partner summits, and other industry events

You have...

• 15+ years of experience in brand licensing, preferably with character-driven IP
• Broad network of licensing contacts
• Strong understanding of intellectual property rights and licensing standards
• Excellent strategic and critical thinking, negotiation, and relationship management skills
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams and with external partners
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills
• Ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment
• Entrepreneurial attitude that favors starting things from scratch, reducing complexity and quickly testing and reiterating on ideas and processes

Exceptional candidates will have...

• Experience with digital apps
• Experience in business development, particularly focused on brand partnerships
• MBA from reputable university
• Excitement for our mission to make high-quality language learning accessible to everyone

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 your recruiter.

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.

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.

Salary Range: $148,750—$312,000 USD