QA Specialist

About Duolingo

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Joining Duolingo means being part of a team that seeks innovative solutions, runs numerous data-driven experiments, and fosters limitless learning opportunities. You'll receive mentorship and collaborate with world-class minds on impactful projects.

Join our life-changing mission to educate over half a billion learners globally.

About The QA Specialist Role

As the most popular language-learning application with over 500 million learners, Duolingo offers a unique environment. As a QA Specialist, you will be embedded in product teams, ensuring a fun, effective, and reliable learning experience. You will collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, and designers to understand features, identify issues early, and champion quality for our learners.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end verification of new features from scoping to release, including regression, exploratory, and acceptance testing across iOS, Android, and Web.
• Perform sanity checks against Duolingo release and branch builds, and validate fixes before and after deployment.
• Develop clear, reproducible bug reports and partner with engineers to isolate root causes and ensure timely resolution.
• Maintain deep product expertise and serve as a go-to resource for teammates seeking clarity on expected behavior, edge cases, or learner experience.
• Proactively identify quality risks, propose mitigation strategies, and influence product decisions that improve stability and usability.
• Tenaciously prioritize test efforts across multiple teams, focusing on areas with the most learner impact.
• Advocate for Duolingo learners by evaluating features for correctness, clarity, delight, and overall usability.
• Contribute to evolving QA processes, documentation, and standards to help engineering teams move faster with confidence.
• Collaborate closely within cross-functional teams, communicating clearly and managing expectations in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

You have:

• BA/BS degree in a related field or equivalent work experience.
• 2+ years of experience in software quality assurance or a closely related field.
• Ability to relocate to New York, NY.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, articulating issues and risks effectively.
• Knowledge and hands-on experience in manual testing, including regression, exploratory, and functional testing for mobile and web applications.
• Experience and expertise in QA processes and UI/UX testing (web and mobile).
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills, with attention to detail and consistency.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team, managing multiple priorities.
• Basic familiarity with the Duolingo app and a passion for delivering a delightful learner experience.

Exceptional candidates will have:

• 3+ years of QA experience working on commercial software products.
• Familiarity with basic automation tools, lightweight scripting, or AI-assisted testing tools.
• Experience working with distributed teams or supporting multiple product surfaces simultaneously.
• Demonstrated ability to manage small QA projects, coordinate test plans, or influence workflow improvements and cross-team collaboration.
• Experience working in gaming, interactive media, or similar domains where polish, responsiveness, and user delight are critical.
• Knowledge of accessibility guidelines for mobile and web experiences.

Salary and Benefits

This role offers a competitive salary range of $79,900—$108,100 USD, which is not inclusive of our awesome portfolio that includes equity compensation and world-class benefits. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process. Duolingo provides comprehensive benefits designed for holistic employee well-being.

Key skills/competency

• Manual Testing
• Regression Testing
• Exploratory Testing
• Mobile QA
• Web QA
• UI/UX Testing
• Bug Reporting
• Product Quality
• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Test Prioritization