How Does Duolingo's CEO Find Top Talent?

Luis von Ahn has developed an unconventional method for evaluating whether prospective employees align with Duolingo's values.

The Duolingo CEO revealed on the Burnouts podcast that he pays taxi drivers to assess candidates during their journey to the interview, providing insights that traditional hiring processes might miss.

The approach stems from a simple principle. "If they're going to be mean to the driver, they're probably going to be mean to other people, particularly people under them," Luis says.

This strategy has directly influenced several hiring decisions at the language learning platform, including a year-long search for a CFO. Despite finding candidates the company "really liked", Duolingo chose not to hire them. "It turned out that they were pretty mean to their driver from the airport to the office," Luis says. "And that made us not hire them."

Building a collaborative culture

Duolingo's hiring philosophy centres on identifying candidates who demonstrate technical excellence whilst contributing to the company's 'One for All' culture.

This framework emphasises collaboration, shared mission-driven goals and sustained engagement. According to the company, candidates who embrace this culture tend to perform significantly better than those who do not.

The company has implemented structured measures to assess these qualities accurately. Duolingo requires training for hiring managers and interviewers, with leadership working closely with the hiring team to define what strong candidate performance looks like. "We continuously strive for accurate and unbiased skill assessment," the company states.

Luis has been transparent about Duolingo's exacting standards. "Our hiring bar is very high," he shared on LinkedIn. "We look for people who have something exceptional in their resume. In some cases that's a high GPA from a top university, in others it's an amazing portfolio and in others it's beating all odds from the hand they were dealt in life."

The company prioritises finding candidates who are exceptionally skilled and represent a strong culture fit, "even when it means filling roles more slowly." This deliberate approach reflects a broader trend as organisations refine their talent acquisition strategies.

Adapting to changing talent markets

As AI assumes more tasks, hiring patterns are shifting and talent pools are expanding. Research from Bank of America indicates that the number of small businesses planning to hire in February 2026 fell 4.4%, whilst Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that companies announced 54,000 AI-related layoffs in the US in 2025.

According to Corporate Navigators, the average time taken to fill a role has risen to between 63 and 68 days. With more applicants per position, companies are introducing additional stages to their hiring processes to identify high-level talent.

Anthropic also follows this trend, with a hiring process that often requires five to six interview stages.

These assess strategic decision making, communication abilities and technical skills depending on the role, such as collaboration with AI tools. Daniela Amodei, President and co-founder of Anthropic, emphasised the importance of this thorough approach: "We look for people who are great communicators, who have excellent EQ and people skills, who are kind and compassionate and curious and want to help other people."