Senior Privacy Engineer

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 Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, our search engine, and the latest — Privacy Pro. 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!

Working on the Privacy Functional Team, you'll lead complex projects across key company-wide objectives. Using Go, Node.js, Python, and (in some cases) Perl (Version 5), you’ll write pragmatic, performant, testable code that works consistently and helps protect the privacy of our users. Potential projects include:

1. Designing systems for improving our search indexes and AI features without compromising user privacy

2. Building new features on top of our Tracker Radar crawler to detect emerging privacy threats

3. Implementing new privacy features and maintaining existing ones, such as our Web Tracking and Email Protections

As a Senior Privacy Engineer, you'll collaborate remotely with your peers and take ownership over 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.

1. Ability to lead and collaborate on high-impact and complex projects from proposal through post-mortem.

2. Skills to wrangle vague problems, propose innovative solutions, and execute them effectively, involving others when necessary.

3. Experience working on privacy solutions in an engineering capacity (e.g., tracker blocker, differential privacy, or similar technology).

4. Experience in privacy review and audit processes that ensure product developments align with established privacy principles.

5. Deep technical understanding of online privacy threats and the existing solution space to protect against them.

6. Proficiency in any of the following: Go, Node.js, and Python.

7. Cross-functional communication skills. You can communicate your ideas to and understand the needs of various teams, such as legal, product, and marketing.

$178,500 USD annually and stock options. Compensation is identical within professional levels, regardless of geographic location or team. Compensation for each professional level is transparent across the organization.

Our Team Member Support Guide explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

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.

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 [email protected] to let us know the nature of your request.

1. You’ll be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing

2. 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.

3. While we offer a flexible work arrangement with no core hours, expect an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.

4. A successful candidate must pass a background check as a condition of joining the team.

5. 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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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 [email protected]. Thank you for your interest in joining DuckDuckGo!