# Head of Talent Management Programs and PMO

**Company:** [Duolingo](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/duolingo)
**Location:** Pittsburgh, PA
**Role:** People Ops
**Salary:** $183k – $275k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Talent Management, People Operations, Program Management, Portfolio Management, Pmo, Performance Management, Succession Planning, People Analytics, Project Management, Agile, Lean, PMP, Data Analysis, Dashboard Development
**Posted:** 2026-06-12

> Lead Duolingo's talent management programs and PMO, architecting performance systems, succession planning, and manager enablement while driving operational excellence and data-driven insights. Requires 8+ years in talent and program management with strong PMO and analytics experience.

## Job Description

## Talent Program Architecture & Strategy

- **End-to-End Program Design**: Lead the evolution of core talent cycles, including performance management, 360-degree feedback, and promotion frameworks, ensuring they align with a high-performance culture.
- **Competency & Career Mapping**: Architect standardized competency models and career ladders that provide clear, transparent growth trajectories for all global functions.
- **Succession & Talent Readiness**: Design and facilitate the talent review process, identifying high-potential leaders and building a data-backed succession pipeline to future-proof the organization.
- **Manager Enablement**: Partner with cross-functional partners to ensure talent programs provide managers with the tools and insights needed to lead high-performing teams.

## Portfolio Leadership & PMO Governance

- **Strategic Roadmap Management**: Own the TMR integrated roadmap, maintaining centralized visibility into project health, dependencies, and resource allocation to ensure on-time delivery.
- **Operational Excellence**: Establish and iterate on a "lean" project management methodology that prioritizes speed and impact over administrative overhead.
- **Cross-Functional Orchestration**: Act as the primary connector between Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, and Business Leadership to ensure talent initiatives are integrated and cohesive.

## Performance Analytics & Insights

- **The Talent Dashboard**: Develop an enterprise performance framework using key metrics (e.g., promotion velocity, retention, talent density) to measure the ROI of our people programs.
- **First-Principles Analysis**: Leverage data to conduct root-cause analysis on organizational trends, providing executive leadership with actionable insights to inform policy and resource decisions.

## Requirements

- 8+ years in Talent Management, People Operations and portfolio/program management, including senior-level ownership of company-wide talent programs in fast-paced, product-led or high-growth environments.
- Comfort and curiosity with AI tools as applied to talent program design, analytics, and portfolio management.
- A proven track record building or leading a PMO, with clear outcomes shipping complex, multi-stakeholder programs on time.
- Depth in modern talent practices: performance systems, org design, competency/career frameworks, succession planning, and manager effectiveness.
- Expert operational rigor with program/project management frameworks and process improvement (e.g., PMP/PgMP/Agile, Lean principles) applied pragmatically.
- Strong data fluency and a product mindset for people analytics—able to design dashboards that tell a story, inform trade-offs, and drive accountability.
- Excellent executive communication and influence; you simplify complexity, align stakeholders, and make crisp, well-reasoned recommendations.

## Nice-to-Haves

- Deep understanding of modern talent management theories, including performance psychology, organizational design, and succession modeling.
- Expert-level proficiency in project management frameworks (PMP, PgMP, or Agile) and process improvement methodologies (Lean Six Sigma).
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to simplify complex operational challenges for executive stakeholders.
- A "product mindset" regarding HR data capable of building dashboards that tell a story and drive accountability.

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