Director of Data Science at DuckDuckGo

About DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is an online protection company and a remote first team of over 400 people on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, the company generates annual revenue in the hundreds of millions USD. Millions of people use the DuckDuckGo browser on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, the DuckDuckGo search engine, and the DuckDuckGo subscription. The company also offers private, useful, and optional AI through Duck.ai, which allows users to chat privately with ChatGPT, Claude, and other AIs in one place.

The culture of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management means each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem. If you are seeking end to end ownership of your work, this is the place for you.

Your Team and Role

Working on the Data Science Functional Team, you will 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 they stay on track and deliver on time with maximum impact. These projects involve statistical modeling, experiment design, and classifier implementation across the search engine, instant answers, AI, and revenue optimization.

You will collaborate cross functionally to validate direction through data, build trust in organizational tactics and strategy by consulting on experiments, and become an expert in core metrics such as searches, installs, and revenue. You will also drive improvement of the data pipeline. Because of strong privacy policies, you will need to think creatively and develop strategies for surfacing more actionable insights in an evidence first culture where quantitative rigor is the baseline.

As a Director of Data Science, you will help shape an all in one privacy solution and join the mission to show the world that protecting privacy online can be simple.

About You

• 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.
• Experience driving organizational culture toward data driven decision making and ability to translate technical tradeoffs and risks clearly for executives and cross functional stakeholders.
• Enjoyment in coaching highly skilled, experienced data scientists, giving direct, actionable feedback, and building teams where people do the best work of their careers.
• Ability to deploy and iterate ML and NLP solutions in production at an expert level, with deep knowledge of when to use which tools, especially in constrained environments requiring fast responses and strict privacy standards.
• Experience writing production grade code in Python or a comparable high level language and staying close to the technical work when it matters most.
• Advanced SQL and query optimization skills, plus familiarity with columnar databases such as BigQuery, Clickhouse, Redshift, or Druid.
• Strong LLM and AI experience including fine tuning, LLM as judge evaluation, and AI assisted development, with the ability to 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

This role is paid on a regional pay scale, in local currency, and includes stock options.

• United States: $263,300 USD annually
• United Kingdom: £183,850 GBP annually
• Canada: C$346,250 CAD annually
• Europe and Rest of World: €214,950 EUR annually

In Spain, pay is expected to transition to the EUR scale on January 1, 2027, and in other Europe and Rest of World countries on February 1, 2027.

Compensation is transparent across the organization, and all team members within the same professional level and global region receive the same compensation.

The Team Member Support Guide explains how the company prioritizes wellbeing, including paid parental leave, office setup, and co working allowances.

Hiring Process

Hiring works best when it is a two way street. Learn how DuckDuckGo helps you get to know the company, envision your future role, and find out more about how they hire.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

DuckDuckGo provides equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants, and 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 policies or federal, state, or local laws.

The company wants to ensure the 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 [email protected] to explain the nature of your request.

Please Note

• You will be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing.
• Expect to travel at least two times a year: once for the all hands meetup and again for a team retreat (each around 4 to 5 days). While extenuating circumstances may impact attendance, everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.
• While the company offers 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. 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 work.

Disclosure Statement: Use of AI in Hiring Process

As part of the commitment to enhancing the recruitment process, DuckDuckGo uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to assist in reviewing and summarizing job applications and test projects, including tools integrated into recruitment vendor platforms. AI is used to flag potentially fraudulent applications, analyze and summarize applicants' experience, interviews, and project performance, and help streamline the selection process.

Key Principles

• Data Privacy: All information provided in your application will be handled in accordance with the Recruiting Privacy Policy. Personal information is protected and used solely for recruitment purposes.
• Human Oversight and Accountability: The AI technology is designed to support the hiring team by providing insights and summaries of applications and evaluations of test projects against scoring rubrics. All final evaluations and hiring decisions will be made by the hiring team, who will consider the AI's input alongside other factors.
• Transparency: If you have any questions about how AI is used in the recruitment process, please reach out.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge and consent to the use of AI technology in the review process. If you would like to request an alternative selection process, please contact [email protected].