Privacy Engineering Director

About DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused internet company with a remote-first workforce of 300+ people, working to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, the company now generates more than $100M USD in annual revenue and serves millions of users through its browser on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, its search engine, and its subscription offering. The culture emphasizes trust, inclusion, and strong ownership, giving every team member end-to-end accountability from project definition through execution and postmortem.

Role overview

This role sits on the Privacy Functional Team and is intended for a senior privacy engineering leader who can take on the most complex, unclear, and high-impact privacy problems across DuckDuckGo’s products. The work spans private browsing, private search, agentic computing, and related initiatives, with close collaboration across teams. The position is expected to shape privacy strategy, improve internal processes, and help grow the privacy engineering function.

Key work areas

• Lead major privacy engineering initiatives from problem definition through final delivery.
• Develop and improve privacy triage and review workflows.
• Create automation and technical systems that reduce manual engineering effort.
• Guide privacy engineering for emerging products, including agentic browsing use cases.
• Design technical approaches that support private search index capabilities while maintaining strong privacy protections.
• Mentor and develop the next generation of privacy engineers.
• Contribute to company-wide privacy direction and decision-making.

Candidate profile

The ideal candidate brings deep privacy engineering experience in consumer product environments, has led audits or privacy programs at scale, and is comfortable handling ambiguity with minimal direction. The role also requires leadership experience, strong communication skills, and a track record of building scalable processes and privacy-preserving technical solutions.

Compensation

The annual base compensation for this role is USD 243,800, along with stock options. Pay is standardized within professional levels and does not vary by geography or team.

Benefits and support

DuckDuckGo notes that company-sponsored health benefits are available only to team members based in the United States, and not to those in other countries such as Canada or the UK. The team member support guide also covers wellbeing support such as paid parental leave, office setup assistance, and co-working allowances.

Hiring process

The company describes hiring as a two-way process designed to help candidates understand the organization, the role, and how the selection process works.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

DuckDuckGo is an equal opportunity employer and does not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age, sex, pregnancy, national origin, disability, genetics, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or other protected characteristics.

Accessibility

If you need a reasonable accommodation at any stage of the application process due to a medical condition or disability, you can request support by email.

Important notes

• Video meetings are expected to be attended with camera on.
• Travel is expected at least twice per year: once for an all-hands meetup and once for a team retreat, with each trip lasting about 4–5 days.
• The role offers flexible scheduling with no core hours, but the expected workload is approximately 40 hours per week.
• A background check is required before joining.
• Applicants must provide accurate and complete information; false or misleading submissions may lead to rejection, withdrawal of an offer, or termination after joining.

AI in the hiring process

DuckDuckGo uses AI tools to assist with reviewing and summarizing applications and test projects, flagging potentially fraudulent submissions, and helping evaluate experience and project performance. The company states that all information is handled according to its recruiting privacy policy, that final decisions remain with human reviewers, and that applicants may contact the recruiting team if they want to request an alternative selection process.

Who should apply

This role is intended for senior privacy engineering leaders with extensive experience in privacy reviews, audits, or technical privacy programs, as well as hands-on privacy engineering leadership and direct management responsibility.

Additional requirements

Successful candidates must be comfortable being on camera during meetings, traveling periodically, and working within a high-trust, high-ownership remote environment. The role also assumes a strong commitment to privacy and to building scalable systems and processes.