VP of Finance

About this role

<p>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!</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Join our life-changing mission to develop education for our half a billion (and growing!) learners around the world. </p> <p style="text-align: left;">Read <a href="https://blog.duolingo.com/?utm_source=greenhouse.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=generalblog_gh_091224">our blog</a> to learn more.</p> <hr> <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>About the role...</strong></p> <p>We’re looking for a VP of Finance to join Duolingo’s Senior Leadership Team and manage our Financial Planning & Analysis and Strategic Finance functions. </p> <p>Reporting to the CFO, the VP of Finance will serve as a source of financial integrity across Duolingo. This leader will co-own Duolingo’s financial operating cadence — including annual and long-range planning, forecasting, and business reviews — and partner closely with Investor Relations, Treasury, and Corporate Development. They will also collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Growth, Marketing, and Operations to ensure decisions are grounded in sound economic principles and long-term value creation. The VP of Finance will also be at the forefront of enabling Finance with the thoughtful integration of AI, data science and automation. </p> <p>This role will be based in our New York City office on a hybrid (4+1) schedule. </p> <p><strong>🧠  You will...</strong></p> <ul> <li>Co-own Duolingo’s financial operating cadence, including annual planning, long-range planning, forecasting, and company-wide business reviews.</li> <li>Partner closely with the CFO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership to provide rigorous financial insight that shapes company-wide strategy and resource allocation.</li> <li>Establish and uphold rigorous financial principles across the company, ensuring teams make decisions grounded in strong unit economics and long-term value creation.</li> <li>Serve as a key voice in communicating Duolingo’s financial performance and long-term strategy to the Board and investors, partnering closely with Investor Relations on earnings materials, guidance, and external messaging.</li> <li>Define and refine the KPIs that drive operating discipline, ensuring alignment between financial performance, product strategy, and long-term mission impact.</li> <li>Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing FP&A and Strategic Finance team (~10 people), raising the bar for analytical rigor and operational excellence. </li> <li>Operate cross-functionally by design — partnering deeply with Product, Growth, Marketing, Controllership, Investor Relations, and Corporate Development — to ensure aligned priorities and data-driven decision-making.</li> <li>Drive finance modernization, including the thoughtful integration of AI, data science and automation — leveraging quantitative and statistical methods to enhance forecasting accuracy, reporting efficiency, and insight generation.</li> <li>Work from our New York City office on a hybrid (4+1) schedule.</li> </ul> <p><strong>✅  You have...</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or a related field.</li> <li>15+ years of progressive finance experience in FP&A, Investment Banking, Corporate or Strategic Finance, including 5+ years leading and managing teams, ideally within a consumer technology, SaaS, subscription or marketplace business.</li> <li>Deep expertise in financial modeling, long-range planning, and capital allocation — including familiarity with data science and quantitative methods — with the ability to translate complex data into clear strategic insight.</li> <li>Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill complex financial topics into clear, compelling narratives for executives, the Board, and investors.</li> <li>A strategic and business-minded perspective, capable of balancing financial rigor with bold, long-term thinking.</li> <li>A low-ego, high-EQ leadership style that builds trust across functions, earns credibility through impact, and operates both at strategic altitude and in the details.</li> </ul> <p><strong>⭐  Exceptional candidates will have...</strong></p> <ul> <li>MBA or advanced degree in finance or a related field.</li> <li>Experience in a global publicly-traded company, with exposure to earnings preparation and investor relations, and with increasing levels of executive responsibility. </li> <li>Deep understanding of subscription economics, consumer product metrics, and global business models.</li> <li>Experience enabling Finance departments through AI, data science and advanced analytics, or automation.</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p><em>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…