Director, People Operations

Hi, we’re DuckDuckGo, the Internet privacy company for everyone who wants to take back their privacy now. For over a decade, we've been building our all-in-one product, developing new privacy technology, and working with policymakers to make online privacy simple and accessible for all.

Our app is now downloaded more than 78M times a year, and our private search engine packaged with it has become the #2 search engine on mobile in the United States and 18 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. Oh, and we've been profitable since 2014, with revenue exceeding $100 million a year Now, we’re rolling out a suite of new privacy solutions, including , and our first-ever Desktop Apps for and .

We’re looking for a Director, People Operations to continue building the fabric of our organisation, which empowers everyone to shape our all-in-one privacy solution and accelerate our mission; to show the world that protecting your privacy online can be simple.

The Opportunity

In this role, you will drive business-critical work forward by improving organizational effectiveness — enabling team member performance and engagement, empowering managers across teams and functions, and supervising general HR operations. You'll also be responsible for evaluating the success of our end-to-end performance review cycles, while adapting and scaling these review processes to meet DuckDuckGo's needs as we continue to grow.

As a key contributor to one of our highest-priority objectives, you'll use data to develop strategic direction focused on team satisfaction, and execute your vision by leading and advising on initiatives within it. You will also identify new areas of opportunity that could positively impact our organizational effectiveness, such as scaling existing processes and coaching others to do the same.

Leveraging your broad leadership skills, you will support a group of talented People Operation Partners in identifying high-impact projects that allow our team members to maximize impact and enable organizational and individual growth. You can expect your work to be data-driven, but also expect our Privacy mission and values to require creativity, where you may need to identify proxy metrics and continually adjust assumptions to communicate and evaluate success.

What You Will Bring to DuckDuckGo

• 10+ years of experience in People Operations with 4+ years of experience in leadership roles (Head, Director, etc.).
• Deep People Ops functional expertise across multiple domains, specifically performance management, employee relations, recognition, engagement, manager enablement, and other HR operations for a scaling tech company.
• Expert-level coaching and leadership skills.
• Experience scaling a People Operations team and establishing efficient processes for specialties (eg, benefits, performance).
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize critical People Ops work to maximize impact effectively.
• Ability to apply compassion, consistency, and a high level of discretion in complex People Ops scenarios.
• Pragmatic and analytical, with a proven track record of creating data-driven People Ops strategies for global, remote tech organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to empower managers as an organization is scaling.
• Experience creating complex systems from scratch.

How We Will Support You

Our core values -- build trust, question assumptions, and validate direction -- underpin how we work day-to-day and the support we give our team members. We strive to empower our team members to be self-directed and self-motivated in their work.

• Remote First, Always : We've always been a fully distributed company with team members all over the world. We trust you to get your work done wherever, and whenever.
• Commitment to Personal Growth: Every team member has an annual budget of $1,250 USD to invest in their professional development. For team members in designated leadership roles, we offer reimbursement for leadership coaching services. The reimbursement amount varies by professional level. Every team member also has a dedicated Career Advisor, who serves as a guide to help you develop your strengths, identify your motivations, and understand your opportunities for growth.
• Leadership: We have many different types of leaders and possible combinations of leadership roles, so you can grow your career in a way that aligns best with your personal goals. You can seek additional leadership roles by being directly responsible for projects, taking ownership of areas of the company, developing and maintaining internal processes, or pursuing advisory roles.
• Work/Life Balance: Team members have the freedom and flexibility to organize their own work schedules. We want you to thrive both in and out of the office. We trust you to use good judgment and take the time off that you need to bring your best self to work.

We also offer paid parental leave, a co-working stipend, office setup reimbursement, and a wellness stipend. More support resources can be found in our , whichexplains how we make your well-being a priority.

For more information on how we collaborate worldwide, from leadership in our relatively flat organization to start-to-finish ownership , check out

Compensation

Annual compensation: $242,000 USD and stock options. Compensation is the same within a professional level, regardless of geographic location or functional area, and the compensation for each professional level is transparent across the organization.

Hiring Process

Hiring works best when it's a two-way street. Learn how we help you get to know DuckDuckGo and envision your future role here. Find out more about .

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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

We want to ensure that our 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 careers@duckduckgo.com to let us know the nature of your request.

If you think you might thrive in this environment, we would love to hear from you.

Please note that:

• Sometimes we meet up Expect to travel at least two times a year: once for our all-hands meetup and again for a team retreat (each around 4-5 days). While extenuating circumstances may impact attendance, everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.
• While we offer a flexible work arrangement with no core hours, expect an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.
• A successful candidate will be subject to a background check and must receive satisfactory results of the same, as a condition of joining the team.
• By applying for this role, you confirm that all information submitted is accurate and complete. You further acknowledge that 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 your commencement of work.

See above