Senior Privacy Engineer

Job summary

Lead complex privacy projects and design systems to improve search indexes and AI features without compromising user privacy. Own major privacy technology components and participate in privacy review and audit processes to ensure alignment with company principles.

Job details

Who We Are Hi, we're DuckDuckGo, the online protection company and remote-first team of 300+ on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, annual revenue now exceeds $100m USD and millions use our browser on on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, our search engine, and the DuckDuckGo subscription. We also offer private, useful, and optional AI, including Duck.ai, which lets you chat privately with ChatGPT, Claude, and other AIs, all in one place. Our culture of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management underpins everything we do, where each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem. If you're seeking end-to-end ownership of your work, you've come to the right place! Your Team and Role Working on the Privacy Functional Team, you'll lead complex projects across key company-wide objectives. You'll protect the privacy of our users using Go, Node.js, Python, and (sometimes) Perl to write pragmatic, performant, testable code, and work on related projects. Potential projects include: Designing systems for improving our search indexes and AI features without compromising user privacy Building new features on top of our Tracker Radar crawler to detect emerging privacy threats Implementing new privacy features and maintaining existing ones, such as our Web Tracking and Email Protections As a Senior Privacy Engineer, you'll own major components of our privacy technology, taking responsibility for their maintenance and improvement over time. A key part of the role will also be participation in our privacy review and audit processes, ensuring that all product developments align with our privacy principles. In time, you'll formally mentor other engineers, supporting their career growth and the growth of the Privacy Team at DuckDuckGo. About You Ability to lead and collaborate on high-impact and complex projects from proposal through post-mortem. Skills to wrangle vague problems, propose innovative solutions, and execute them effectively, involving others when necessary. Experience working on privacy solutions in an engineering capacity (e.g. tracker blocker, differential privacy, or similar technology). Deep technical understanding of online privacy threats and the existing solution space to protect against them. Proficiency in any of the following: Go, Node.js, Python, Perl. Excellent communication skills. You can validate your decisions and communicate them clearly to a variety of audiences, including non-technical stakeholders. Compensation $178,500 USD annually and stock options. Compensation is transparent across the organization, and all team members within the same professional level and global region receive the same compensation. Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK. Our Team Member Support Guide explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances. Hiring Process Hiring works best when it's a two-way street. Learn how we help you get to know DuckDuckGo, envision your future role here, and find out more about how we hire. 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. Please note that: You’ll be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing 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 must pass a background check 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. Disclosure Statement: Use of AI in Hiring Process As part of our commitment to enhancing our recruitment process, we utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to assist in reviewing and summarizing job applications and test projects, including those tools integrated into our recruitment vendor platforms. We use AI to flag potentially fraudulent applications, analyze and summarize applicants’ experience, interviews, and project performance, and help streamline our selection process. Key Principles: Data Privacy: All information provided in your application will be handled in accordance with our Recruiting Privacy Policy. We ensure that your personal information is protected and used solely for recruitment purposes. Human Oversight and Accountability: The AI technology is designed to support our hiring team by providing insights and summaries of applications and evaluations of test projects against scoring rubrics. All final evaluations and hiring decisions, however, will be made by our hiring team, who will consider the AI's input alongside other factors. Transparency: We believe in transparency regarding our hiring practices. If you have any questions about how AI is used in our recruitment process, please feel free to reach out to us. By submitting your application, you acknowledge and consent to the use of AI technology in our review process. If you would like to request an alternative selection process, please contact us as at careers@duckduckgo.com. Thank you for your interest in joining DuckDuckGo! #LI-DNI

What you’ll do

Lead complex privacy projects and design systems to improve search indexes and AI features without compromising user privacy. Own major privacy technology components and participate in privacy review and audit processes to ensure alignment with company principles.

Requirements

Requires deep technical understanding of online privacy threats and proficiency in Go, Node.js, Python, or Perl. Candidates must have experience building privacy solutions like tracker blockers or differential privacy and the ability to lead high-impact projects.

Benefits

• Stock Options • Paid Parental Leave • Office Setup Allowance • Co-working Allowances

Listed skills

• Node.js · Preferred
• Go · Preferred
• Python · Preferred

Other relevant skills

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• Go
• Node.js
• Python
• Perl
• Privacy Engineering
• System Design
• Differential Privacy
• Tracker Blocking
• Technical Communication
• Project Leadership
• Mentoring
• Privacy Auditing

Job areas

• Software
• Engineering
• Technology
• Security & Safety
• Data & Analytics