Head of Talent Management Programs and PMO
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.
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.
Sr. Staff Compensation Partner
Strategic compensation lead partnering with founders and G&A leadership to design and manage compensation programs, equity strategies, and pay cycles for technical talent. Requires deep tech compensation expertise and strong analytical skills.
HR Business Partner
Partner with functional leadership to translate business strategy into people and org strategy. Own the full HRBP lifecycle including org design, performance management, talent development, and retention using data-driven insights.