Director, Data Science

Your Team and Role

Working on the Data Science Functional Team, you'll drive product and business impact by developing data scientists, setting clear expectations for them, providing hands-on mentorship, and removing blockers.

You will guide and advise multiple data science projects so that they stay on track and have timely delivery with maximum impact. These projects will involve statistical modeling, experiment design, and classifier implementation across our search engine, instant answers, AI, and revenue optimization. You'll collaborate cross-functionally to validate direction through data, build trust in organizational tactics and strategy by consulting on experiments, and become an expert in our core metrics like searches, installs, and revenue. You'll also drive improvement of the data pipeline. Because of our strong privacy policies, you'll need to think creatively and develop strategies for how we can surface more actionable insights in an evidence-first culture where quantitative rigor is the baseline, not the exception.

As a Director, Data Science, you'll help shape our all-in-one privacy solution and join our mission to show the world that protecting your privacy online can be simple.

About You

• You have 10+ years of experience in data science or ML engineering, with 4+ years leading teams, and a track record of setting multi-team roadmaps and adapting swiftly as priorities shift.
• You've driven organizational culture toward data-driven decision-making and can translate technical tradeoffs and risks clearly for executives and cross-functional stakeholders.
• You enjoy coaching experienced data scientists who are already highly skilled. You give direct, actionable feedback and you've built teams where people do the best work of their careers.
• You can deploy and iterate ML and NLP solutions in production at expert level, with deep knowledge of when to reach for which tools - especially in constrained environments requiring fast responses and strict privacy standards.
• You write production-grade code in Python or a comparable high-level language and stay close to the technical work when it matters most.
• You have advanced SQL and query optimization skills, familiarity with columnar databases like BigQuery, Clickhouse, Redshift, or Druid.
• You have strong LLM/AI experience including fine-tuning, LLM-as-judge evaluation, and AI-assisted development, and can design, implement, and analyze experiments across product surfaces using sparse or privacy-constrained data.
• Preferred: experience at a consumer-facing tech company where data or analytics is core to the product strategy.

Compensation

$243,800 USD annually and stock options. Compensation is identical within professional levels, regardless of geographic location or team. Compensation for each professional level is transparent across the organization. Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.

Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.

Our Team Member Support Guide explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

Hiring Process

Hiring works best when it's a two-way street. Learn how we help you get to know DuckDuckGo, envision your future role here, and find out more about how we hire.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

DuckDuckGo provides equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants, and it prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by our policies or federal, state, or local laws.

We want to ensure that our hiring process is accessible. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an email to careers@duckduckgo.com to let us know the nature of your request.

Please note that:

• You’ll be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing
• Expect to travel at least two times a year: once for our all-hands meetup and again for a team retreat (each around 4-5 days). While extenuating circumstances may impact attendance, everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.
• While we offer a flexible work arrangement with no core hours, expect an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.
• A successful candidate must pass a background check as a condition of joining the team.
• By applying for this role, you confirm that all information submitted is accurate and complete. You further acknowledge that providing false or fraudulent information during the application process is cause for denial of an offer, revocation of any existing offer, or other adverse action, up to and including termination after the start of your commencement of work.