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Salary: USD 152,000 - 228,000 / annual
Duolingo is seeking an Ad Sales Lead, Programmatic to build and scale the company's premium programmatic advertising business. Reporting to the Head of Ad Sales, you will own a programmatic revenue target and develop a deal-led book of business with agency holding companies, independent agencies, and premium programmatic buyers. Your focus will be shifting Duolingo's inventory from open auction to premium, deal-led PMPs and PGs by packaging native formats and first-party learner signals into high-value, always-on and custom deals.
Key responsibilities include:
- Owning programmatic revenue targets and building a predictable pipeline across holdco programmatic teams, trading desks, independent agencies, and premium buyers
- Leading the transition from open auction to premium PMP/PG deals with annual and upfront commitments
- Becoming the primary contact for holdco programmatic teams on mobile app inventory, managing joint business planning and preferred supply path placement
- Building the programmatic value proposition through proposals and measurement narratives connecting native formats and audience data to brand and performance outcomes (verification, attention, brand lift, incrementality, MMM)
- Partnering with Ad Platform Operations and Ad Ops on deal setup, targeting, floors, pacing, and troubleshooting
- Coordinating with direct sellers and Account Management to drive renewal and expansion
- Feeding market intelligence to sales, product, and engineering leadership on buyer needs for pricing, packaging, audience segments, formats, and integrations
- Establishing operating rhythms for a scaling programmatic business through account planning, outreach cadences, CRM hygiene, pipeline rigor, and repeatable playbooks
This is a high-ownership, early-stage opportunity to define how programmatic can fuel high-quality ads for millions of learners while driving outcomes for partners.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 8+ years in digital advertising, including at least 4 years selling programmatic on the sell side (publisher/platform/app) or in a holding-company programmatic/investment role, with demonstrated quota attainment and PMP/PG selling experience
- Demonstrated book of PMP and PG business personally sourced, negotiated, and grown
- Experience selling premium mobile or consumer app inventory—especially video and native/custom formats—through programmatic channels to top-tier advertisers and agencies
- Strong understanding of ad tech and mobile app ecosystems, including DSP/SSP workflows, deal IDs, verification/measurement, and using data to inform pricing and packaging
- Excellent communication and presentation skills with clear, concise storytelling for both technical and non-technical audiences
EXCEPTIONAL CANDIDATES WILL HAVE:
- Deep, current relationships with programmatic leads at major agency holding companies and larger independents
- Experience moving partners from heavy open-auction mix to meaningful always-on/custom PMP/PG alongside direct sales
- Experience selling first-party audience segments or custom data products, not just inventory
- Hands-on partnership with Ad Ops on deal setup, SSP onboarding, and campaign QA to improve fill, CPMs, and delivery quality
