Duolingo
Pittsburgh, PA · founded 2011
Duolingo is the publicly traded (Nasdaq: DUOL) language-learning company behind the green owl, headquartered in Pittsburgh with a heavily engineering- and design-driven culture. It is a mission-oriented product shop known for playful branding and a genuinely technical engineering org that publishes deep posts on AI tooling and automation. The big caveat is direction: in 2025 CEO Luis von Ahn declared the company 'AI-first', after a January 2024 cut of roughly ten percent of its contract workforce to replace them with AI. That pivot drew public backlash from users and colors how some employees now describe the place — 'past its prime,' 'very top down,' with limited growth even as work-life balance stays decent.
see the full file on Duolingodocumented benefits (8)
| Countries with offices | US, China, Germany |
|---|---|
| Equity | offered |
| Dental | yes |
| Vision | yes |
| Disability | yes |
| Life insurance | yes |
| Offices | Pittsburgh, Seattle, New York, Detroit, Beijing, Berlin |
| Median filed wage | $159,100 |
what Duolingo pays
Median of 3 certified wages filed with the US Department of Labor: $159,100.
Half of Duolingo's certified filings fall between $135,000 and $185,000.
Source: US Department of Labor, FY2025 Q4. Read 2026-07-27.
the legal floor where they are
Set by law, not by Duolingo. It applies to every employer in Pittsburgh, PA.
| IVF cycles the state covers | THERE IS NO FEDERAL MANDATE. No US law requires an employer health plan to cover IVF or any infertility treatment, so coverage comes either from the insurance mandate in the state where the plan is written or from the employer's own choice. And the state mandates reach less far than they look: they bind fully insured plans bought from a state-regulated carrier, while a self-funded employer plan is governed federally under ERISA and is preempted from state insurance regulation. KFF's 2025 employer survey puts 67% of covered workers in a self-funded plan, and 80% of those at firms of 200 or more — so at the size of employer this site mostly covers, the state mandate usually does not apply, and any fertility benefit is a genuine company choice rather than a restatement of law. That is precisely why it belongs on a benefits page here. Perks has not yet read this employer's own state insurance mandate from an official source; the states that have been read carry their own entry. (No federal statute requires an employer health plan to cover infertility treatment or IVF. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) preempts state insurance regulation as applied to self-funded employer plans, which is why a state mandate does not reach them.) |
|---|---|
| Adoption leave the law gives | 12 workweeks of UNPAID job-protected leave in any 12-month period on the placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and only for employees who meet the FMLA eligibility test. There is no federal paid adoption leave. (Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(B) and 2612(c); eligibility at 29 U.S.C. 2611(2) and (4). Quoted from the 2023 edition of the US Code.) |
| Pay when you are ill | No federal law requires any paid sick leave. The FLSA does not require payment for time not worked, and the FMLA gives 12 workweeks of UNPAID job-protected leave in any 12-month period for a serious health condition, and only for employees who meet the FMLA eligibility test. Any paid sick time comes from a state or city law, or from the employer's own choice. (Fair Labor Standards Act, per the Department of Labor's statement on payment for time not worked; Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(D) and 2612(c). Quoted from the 2023 edition of the US Code on govinfo.gov.) |
Every claim above is sourced and dated. See sources on the full page.
Work at Duolingo and something here is wrong or out of date? Tell us at hello@perks.global and we will check it.