Creative Director, Marketing

About the role

You will own the creative vision and end-to-end execution for Duolingo's brand building and performance marketing initiatives, shaping how the world sees our iconic brand. You will lead a multidisciplinary team to produce culturally resonant, high-impact work that spans social, video, experiential, and partnership channels. You will translate bold strategic ideas into clear, executable concepts that drive measurable business outcomes and brand love. You will raise the creative standard across all touchpoints, ensuring every piece of work ladders up to company strategy and moves key metrics. You will collaborate closely with Brand Marketing, Growth, International Marketing, Product, Design, BD, and global agency partners to build a cohesive and iconic brand presence. You will oversee the creative feedback loop from brief to launch, providing clear, timely decisions that maintain momentum without sacrificing excellence. You will inspire the organization with industry trends, new platforms, and creative references while codifying what is on-brand.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Drive all creative work in the Marketing function, ensuring it consistently ladders up to company strategy and moves key brand and business metrics.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of creatives; set a high bar for craft, narrative, and taste while creating space for diverse voices and experimentation.
• Turn great ideas into end-to-end campaign concepts; guide direction across channels (social, video, experiential, partnerships), from insight to execution.
• Partner with Brand Marketing to shape briefs, make strategic trade-offs, and deliver work that's part of culture and drives brand love and growth.
• Partner with Growth Marketing to build a performance marketing creative studio enabling our user acquisition efforts across the globe.
• Partner with our Country Marketing team to lead and evolve our global agency roster; ensure scopes, standards, and handoffs produce A+ creative worldwide.
• Oversee creative feedback and quality across all project stages; provide clear, timely decisions that keep momentum without sacrificing excellence.
• Inspire the organization with industry trends, creative references, and new platforms; codify what's "on-brand" and how we measure brand success.
• Translate complex ideas into simple narratives that guide strategy, creative, and execution for campaigns that feel native to each culture.
• Define and own core narrative frameworks and archetypes that make Duolingo's brand instantly recognizable and culturally relevant.
• Establish clear creative operating mechanisms with global teams to ensure consistency, speed, and quality across markets.
• Evaluate creative performance rigorously and use insights to refine direction, concepts, and production approaches over time.
• Build strong relationships with agency partners to elevate quality, speed, and collaboration across the creative ecosystem.
• Champion inclusive storytelling practices that reflect the diversity of our learners and communities worldwide.
• Act as the primary creative voice representing Duolingo externally with partners, press, and industry forums.

Requirements

• Experience in brand/creative roles with significant time leading other creative leaders; proven success shipping integrated campaigns across a wide range of budgets at a high bar.
• Demonstrated ability to set vision, influence senior stakeholders, and connect creative decisions to strategy, KPIs, and ROI.
• A track record of turning insights into iconic, culture-driving ideas and guiding multi-disciplinary teams from concept to launch.
• Excellent communication and feedback skills; you simplify complex topics, make fast, sound calls, and bring others along.
• Experience managing agencies and external partners across markets, with a reputation for raising quality and speed.
• The ability to work from or relocate to New York City or London, UK.
• A minimum of 7 years of creative leadership experience in brand, marketing, or advertising environments.
• Demonstrated experience building and managing high-performing creative teams of 5+ professionals.
• A portfolio that showcases your best work across multiple channels and demonstrates strategic impact, not just visual execution.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to articulate creative rationale to both strategic and technical audiences.
• Experience working within fast-paced, ambiguous environments while maintaining a high standard of craft and delivery.
• Proven ability to give and incorporate candid feedback in a way that elevates the work and the team.
• Comfort making decisions with incomplete data and iterating based on real-world feedback and performance signals.
• Willingness to deep-dive into data and metrics to understand creative effectiveness and drive continuous improvement.

Nice to have

• Experience working with IP-led brands.
• Global brand experience, including creative leadership across multiple regions and cultures.
• A portfolio demonstrating world-class craft and storytelling - work that drives buzz and earned media attention instead of relying on paid channels for distribution.
• Deep familiarity with social media and creator ecosystems, and how to translate cultural signals into breakthrough brand ideas.
• Experience establishing clear creative operating mechanisms with global teams.

Practical notes

This role is full-time and based in New York City, with the option to relocate from London, UK. The successful candidate must be able to work from or relocate to New York City or London, UK. Travel may be required for agency reviews, partner meetings, and campaign evaluations. No specific hours are stipulated, but the role expects deep collaboration across time zones and availability during core business hours. Visas may be sponsored for eligible candidates. Deadlines for application review will be handled on a rolling basis until the role is filled.