Illustrator

Duolingo

Posted 5 days ago

Full Time

Detroit, Michigan

In Person

Smart Summary

Responsibilities

Create engaging character and scene illustrations, including developing memorable new characters and enhancing existing ones. Collaborate with Design and partner teams to produce artwork for the app, social media, marketing campaigns, and workplace experiences while considering the user experience.

Qualifications

You have a strong portfolio showcasing engaging character and scene illustrations, with proficiency in Figma and experience in tech, agency, or editorial illustration. You are adept at managing multiple projects from concept to completion and have experience illustrating for animation.

Must Have Skills for ATS

Figma

illustration

animation

Job Description

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. It’s a big mission, and even though we've made a lot of headway, we still have work to do — and that’s where you come in!

Duolingo’s designers care about creating high-quality experiences that look and feel fun. From animators to writers, product designers to researchers, Design brings purpose, feeling, and delight to every interaction with our brand, inside the app and out. As a designer, you’ll join a culture of creativity and craft, where we have a high bar for excellence and an endless curiosity about how to bring more unexpected quirk and fun to the pursuit of learning. 

Join us in our mission to develop education for our half a billion (and growing!) learners around the world.


About the role...

This role reports to a Design Studio Manager as a member of the Design team, the instrumental creative partner in most projects at Duolingo—from our mobile app and website to branded environment builds and Super Bowl ads. We take pride in crafting a user-friendly (and fun) experience for everyone, and your work will play a meaningful role in helping us achieve our mission and take our brand further.

🧠  You will...

  • Concept and compose engaging character and scene illustrations 
  • Work in a highly collaborative fashion with the Design and partner teams
  • Create new and memorable characters and enhance existing ones
  • Consider the user experience surrounding the artwork you create
  • Create artwork for social media, marketing campaigns, and workplace experience

✅  You have...

  • An online portfolio with illustration samples
  • Skill and proficiency illustrating with Figma
  • Illustration experience in a tech, agency, or editorial role
  • Experience illustrating for animation
  • The ability to juggle multiple projects in parallel from concept to completion
  • The ability to relocate to Pittsburgh, PA or Detroit, MI

⭐  Exceptional candidates will have...

  • 1+ years of experience working at a high-paced tech start-up
  • Experience with product design or animation (or both)

The offered salary is dependent upon several factors, including work experience, skills, and internal peer comparisons. The posted range is subject to change in the future. For this role, base salary is supplemented by equity compensation. We encourage you to talk with your recruiter for more information related to compensation for this role!

Salary Range: $110,500—$149,500 USD

Benefits: Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits here.

Job Alerts: Sign up for job alerts here.

Accommodations: We will do everything we can within reason to make sure that your interview takes place in an environment that fairly and accurately assesses your skills. If you need assistance or accommodation, please contact accommodations@duolingo.com.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Duolingo is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Fraud Warning: Unfortunately, there is a rise in scammers pretending to be real Duolingo employees. Duolingo and our employees will never ask for your Social Security number, bank details, or passport info, and we’ll never ask you to deposit a check, purchase equipment, or exchange money during the interview process. Real Duolingo employees always use an email that ends in @duolingo.com or @recruiting.duolingo.com. Stay alert and double-check these details before sharing any information.

By applying for this position your data will be processed as per the Duolingo Applicant Privacy Notice.

Duolingo

Duolingo is the most downloaded education app in the history of the App Store. Our mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Learning a new language is hard, but staying motivated is often the hardest part. That’s why we use fun, bite-sized, game-like lessons designed to keep you engaged and to drive real learning outcomes. Our approach is grounded in efficacy: we continuously test and improve our methods to ensure learners make meaningful progress. We also believe in democratizing education by offering an effective, high-quality free product. Developing a great free product is essential to our mission, ensuring that anyone with a smartphone can access learning that works. When it comes to utilizing AI tools, we have a golden rule: we use it when it clearly improves outcomes for learners. We don’t use it as a shortcut or a replacement for people, but as a tool to enhance learning experiences and efficacy. Duolingo has been named to: Fast Company’s Most Innovative Education Company (2026, 2022), Apple Design Award (2023), TIME100 Most Influential Companies (2023), Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators (2022), among others.
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