Who We Are

Hi, we're DuckDuckGo, the online protection company and remote-first team of 400+ on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, our annual revenue is in the hundreds of millions USD and millions use our browser 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 C++ Functional Team, you'll build the high-performance code at the core of DuckDuckGo's browser using modern C++ and Chromium, and work on related projects.

You can expect to work on projects like:

Implement tracker blocking that stops hidden trackers on every site without slowing page loads.

Bring VPN and Personal Information Removal into the browser through the DuckDuckGo subscription.

Catch startup and responsiveness regressions automatically, so the browser stays fast as it grows.

As a Senior C++/Chromium Engineer, you'll lead complex projects from proposal through post-mortem. You'll turn vague problems into clear plans, build them in a large modern C++ codebase, and use metrics to show they worked. Some days that means low-level systems work. Others, it means architecture decisions the whole team builds on. You'll collaborate with design and product, mostly asynchronously, to build features people use to protect their privacy.

About You

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

Skills to wrangle vague problems, propose innovative solutions, and execute them with a strong focus on metrics

7+ years of software engineering experience

Advanced modern C++ expertise (C++23 or newer), including memory management, concurrency, and performance profiling

Experience driving technical work end-to-end on large-scale C++ codebases

Comfort with large build systems, debuggers, and profilers

Experience shipping software to a large consumer audience

Solid computer science foundation (algorithms and data structures)

Bonus: Windows development experience

Bonus: experience with browsers (Chromium, WebKit, WebView), game engines, or large desktop applications

Compensation

This role is paid on a regional pay scale, in local currency, and stock options:

United States: $190,500 USD annually

United Kingdom: £134,600 GBP annually

Canada: C$253,500 CAD annually

Europe/Rest of World: €157,350 EUR annually

In Spain, pay is expected to transition to the EUR scale on January 1, 2027, and in other Europe/Rest of World countries on February 1, 2027.

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.