Privacy Engineering Director

Company Overview

DuckDuckGo is a pioneering online privacy company with a remote-first workforce of over 300 employees. Established in 2008, it has been profitable since 2014, generating annual revenues surpassing $100 million USD. The company offers privacy-centric products such as a widely used browser available on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, a search engine, and a subscription service. It also provides private AI solutions including Duck.ai, which integrates chat with multiple AI platforms while maintaining user privacy. The company's culture emphasizes trust, inclusivity, and empowered project ownership across all phases.

Role and Responsibilities

This Director role is within the Privacy Functional Team at DuckDuckGo. As the Privacy Engineering Director, you will lead the resolution of highly complex and ambiguous privacy challenges affecting various products. Your expertise in privacy engineering, audit frameworks, and collaboration with cross-functional teams will steer critical privacy initiatives shaping private browsing, private search, and agentic computing technologies. Projects you will direct include developing privacy engineering frameworks for agentic browsing products and devising technical approaches to enable scalable private search indexes without compromising privacy.

Key duties include:

• Overseeing intricate privacy engineering projects from inception to deployment.
• Enhancing privacy triage and review procedures within the company.
• Creating automation tools to reduce repetitive engineering workload.
• Mentoring and developing upcoming privacy engineers.
• Helping to shape overall privacy strategy at DuckDuckGo.

Candidate Profile and Requirements

• At least 10 years of leadership experience in privacy audits, reviews, or managing technical privacy programs for consumer-facing products with user bases exceeding one million.
• Minimum 4 years in privacy engineering leadership roles, involving infrastructure tools, data minimization, or privacy-preserving technologies.
• Experience at Director, Head of, or VP level with responsibilities for direct management, recruitment, and leading significant technical projects.
• Demonstrated ability to drive complex, cross-functional initiatives independently.
• Excellent communication skills, with proven ability to translate privacy principles into applicable engineering decisions considering diverse stakeholder requirements.
• Proficiency in enhancing organizational processes, including identifying inefficiencies, deploying automation, and building scalable privacy review systems.
• A strong dedication to privacy and improving online trust standards.

Compensation and Benefits

The position offers an annual salary of $243,800 USD along with stock options. Pay is transparently standardized across equivalent professional levels within the same region. While U.S.-based employees have access to company health benefits, this does not extend to employees in other countries.

Additional support includes paid parental leave, assistance with office setups, and allowances for co-working spaces.

Additional Information

• Applicants will be expected to engage in video conferencing with camera enabled for meetings.
• Travel commitment involves approximately two trips annually, including an all-hands meeting and a team retreat, each lasting about 4-5 days. Attendance is strongly encouraged barring exceptional circumstances.
• The role requires an average of 40 working hours per week without fixed core hours but with a flexible working arrangement.
• A background check clearance is mandatory before joining.
• Providing truthful and complete information throughout the hiring process is essential; falsification may lead to withdrawal of offers or termination.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

DuckDuckGo is committed to equal employment opportunities and prohibits any type of discrimination or harassment based on protected attributes including race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, disability status, or any other characteristic under relevant laws.

Accommodation and Accessibility

The application process is designed to be accessible. Candidates requiring accommodations for medical conditions or disabilities are invited to request support via email.

Use of AI in Recruitment

DuckDuckGo employs AI tools during hiring to assist in reviewing applications and test projects. These tools help flag fraudulent submissions and summarize applicant credentials, but all final hiring decisions remain under human oversight. Personal data is protected according to the company’s recruiting privacy standards, and transparency is maintained about AI usage in recruitment. Candidates may request alternative selection procedures if needed.