Ad Sales Lead, Central

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.

Join us to build Duolingo Ads, Duolingo’s direct ad business. Most learners use our free, ad-supported app, so high-quality ads are core to our mission. We’re hiring an Ad Sales Lead in Chicago to open and lead the Central region. This is a senior individual-contributor role for a seller who can both win business and help shape how we scale: you’ll set regional strategy, build a high-quality pipeline across priority verticals, cultivate senior relationships with brands and agencies, and close high-impact deals that delight learners and drive revenue.

You’ll partner closely with sales leadership and the cross-functional ads team to influence pricing, packaging, market prioritization, and the broader go-to-market motion as Duolingo Ads grows. This is a high-ownership, early-stage opportunity to help define the trajectory of ads on Duolingo for hundreds of millions of learners.

• Own the Central region’s direct ads strategy and revenue outcomes, including named-account prioritization, pipeline development, forecasting, and quarterly execution.
• Build and grow senior relationships across brands and agencies, opening new logos and expanding strategic accounts into long-term, high-value partnerships.
• Lead complex, high-impact deals end-to-end, from prospecting and positioning through negotiation, close, renewal, and expansion.
• Translate Duolingo’s unique strengths, including premium attention, native formats, character IP, and brand equity, into clear commercial narratives tailored to advertiser objectives.
• Partner closely with Account Management, Ad Ops, Product, Design, and Engineering to move deals forward, shape feasible programs, and improve the advertiser and learner experience.
• Share actionable market feedback with sales and product leadership to inform pricing, packaging, measurement, and future ad formats.
• Help establish repeatable systems and standards for a growing ads business, including account planning, CRM hygiene, proposal quality, and pipeline rigor.

• 8+ years of experience in direct digital ad sales, with a strong track record of building senior client relationships and closing meaningful new business.
• Success selling premium video and native/custom ad formats in digital, mobile, or consumer app environments.
• Proven ability to operate as a senior seller in an early-stage or evolving business, balancing strategic thinking with hands‑on execution.
• Strong commercial judgment across pricing, packaging, negotiation, and account prioritization.
• Ability to influence senior decision makers at brands and agencies while working effectively with cross-functional partners internally.
• Strong understanding of ad tech and mobile app ecosystems, and comfort using data to assess campaign performance, shape proposals, and inform sales strategy.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with a clear, persuasive style and comfort operating in ambiguity.

• Established relationships with senior brand and agency leaders across the Central region.
• Experience building a direct ads business from 0→1 or scaling a newer ads product within a publisher or platform environment.
• Experience shaping go-to-market strategy, sales process, or regional coverage models beyond your own book of business.
• Familiarity with managed-service and programmatic sales motions, including how they complement one another in a scaled ads business.

The offered salary is dependent upon several factors, including work experience, skills, and internal peer comparisons. The…