At Nerd Wallet, we’re on a mission to bring clarity to all of life’s financial decisions and every great mission needs a team of exceptional Nerds. We’ve built an inclusive, flexible, and candid culture where you’re empowered to grow, take smart risks, and be unapologetically yourself (cape optional). Whether remote or in-office, we support how you thrive best. We invest in your well-being, development, and ability to make an impact because when one Nerd levels up, we all do.

A Staff Software Engineer plays a critical role in designing, developing, and maintaining complex software systems while providing technical leadership within a team. Their primary purpose is to architect scalable and efficient solutions, ensuring that software meets both functional and non-functional requirements such as performance, security, and maintainability.

Staff Software Engineers are responsible for writing high-quality, scalable, and efficient code, ensuring that software meets business and technical requirements. Additionally, they review and optimize existing code, conduct thorough testing, and troubleshoot complex issues to improve system performance and reliability. Staff Software Engineers also mentor junior developers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and best practices in coding, architecture, and software development methodologies. They collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, designers, and quality assurance professionals, to align technical solutions with business objectives. Furthermore, they contribute to architectural decisions, evaluate new technologies, and drive innovation within the organization. Strong communication, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work independently while leading projects are essential for success in this role.

This role reports to the Senior Manager, Engineering.

PROJECTS YOU MAY BE WORKING ON IN THIS POSITION INCLUDE:

• Optimize and build new insurance flows through our organic/paid marketing funnels via ordering changes, micro-optimizations, and A/B testing the auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance, Medicare and travel insurance flows.

• Design and implement secure, scalable back-end integrations with partner and third-party platforms to support conversions and user engagement.

• Lead development of high-impact insurance experiences, including organic SEO pages that drive top-of-funnel traffic and user flows across multiple insurance products (auto, home, life, Medicare, U65 health, travel, and pet).

• Instrumentation of our systems in our Observability platform Datadog.

WHERE YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPACT:

• Architecting complex systems that help grow the insurance business.

• Serve as a tech lead on the team.

• Build across the full software stack — from front-end experiences to back-end systems and data workflows.

• Design and implement secure, scalable back-end integrations with partner and third-party platforms to support conversions and user engagement.

• Contribute to a move-fast development culture by owning the full tech stack with minimal dependencies.

• Use observability and monitoring tools to proactively identify, diagnose, and resolve production issues quickly.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and data teams to deliver measurable impact across the insurance vertical.

• Add monetization onto pages lacking it, making changes to drive more traffic through pages that have low traffic.

• Improve SEO page performance to enhance site speed, accessibility, and user engagement — driving stronger rankings and visibility on SERPs.

• Serve as a mentor to the engineers on the team.

• Help to drive our existing values as a team towards better engineering practices, strong continuous improvement thinking, and failing fast / repairing faster mentality.

• Partner with management to continuously develop the engineering roadmap for our team.

YOU ARE:

• Biased to action and are happy to iterate along the way based on what we learn. You tend to believe that time to market is more meaningful than perfection.

• Not afraid to fail. We take informed risks and chances, they often work, sometimes they don’t. You learn from those mistakes and incorporate them into how you think in the future.

• Aware that “fast” and “quality” are not mutually exclusive. We can deliver high quality, well engineered code fast. You do not cut quality first to meet timelines, you often thoughtfully try to figure out how to do both.

• Interested in being a mentor and a teacher to make those around you better. We aren’t perfect, neither are you. You believe that together we are more than the sum of our parts and you expect others to help you to grow and learn too.

YOUR EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum of 10 years in software engineering, with a strong background in front-end development, back-end development, and distributed systems.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Technical Skills:

• Expert in React, TypeScript, Node

• Familiarity with Next.js

• Relational database experience

• 4+ years working on a public-facing website (should understand: SEO, ADA, responsive, etc)

• Software Development – Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and methodologies (Agile, Scrum, DevOps).

• System Design & Architecture – Experience in designing scalable, distributed, and high-performance systems

• Databases – Expert knowledge of SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL databases

• Cloud Platforms – Experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud for deploying and managing applications

• DevOps & CI/CD – Familiarity with automation tools (Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, GitHub Actions)

• Testing & Debugging – Proficiency in unit testing, integration testing, and debugging tools

• Security Best Practices – Awareness of security principles, authentication, and authorization techniques

• Version Control – Proficiency with Git and workflows like Git Flow

WHERE:

• This role will be remote (based in the U.S.).

• We believe great work can be done anywhere. No matter where you are based, Nerd Wallet offers benefits and perks to support the physical, financial, and emotional well being of you and your family.

WHAT WE OFFER:

Work Hard, Stay Balanced (Life’s a series of balancing acts, eh?)

• Industry-leading medical, dental, and vision health care plans for employees and their dependents

• Rejuvenation Policy – Flexible Vacation Time Off + 11 holidays + holiday company shutdown

• New Parent Leave for employees with a newborn child or a child placed with them for adoption or foster care

• Mental health support

• Paid sabbatical after 5 years for Nerds to recharge, gain knowledge, and pursue their interests

• Health and Dependent Care FSA and HSA Plan with monthly Nerd Wallet contribution

• Monthly Wellness Stipend, Cell Phone Stipend, and Wifi Stipend (Only remote Nerds are eligible for the Wifi Stipend)

• Work from home equipment stipend and co-working space subsidy (Only remote Nerds are eligible for these stipends)

Have Some Fun! (Nerds are fun, too)

• Nerd-led group initiatives – Employee Resource Groups for Parents, Diversity, and Inclusion, Women, LGBTQIA, and other communities

• Hackathons and team events across all teams and departments

• Company-wide events like Nerd Love (employee appreciation) and our annual Charity Auction

• Our Nerds love to make an impact by paying it forward – Take 8 hours of volunteer time off per quarter and donate to your favorite causes with a company match

Plan for your future (And when you retire on your island, remember the little people)

• 401K with 4% company match

• Be the first to test and benefit from our new financial products and tools

• Financial wellness, guidance, and unlimited access to a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) through Northstar

• Disability and Life Insurance with employer-paid premiums

If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents linked here https://www.nerdwallet.com/privacy-policy.

Nerd Wallet is committed to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, so all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

NerdWallet will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act and the San Francisco Fair Chance Act, which requires this notice https://www.sf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/FCO%20poster2020_0.pdf, as well as the Los Angeles Fair Chance Act, which requires this notice https://dcba.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FCOE-Official-Notice-Eng-Final-8.30.2024.pdf.

Nerd Wallet participates in the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services E-Verify program for all US locations. For more information, please see:

• E-Verify Participation Poster (English+Spanish/Español https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf)

• Right to Work Poster (English) https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Verification/E-Verify/E-Verify_Native_Documents/OSC_Right_to_Work_Poster.pdf / (Spanish/Español) https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Verification/E-Verify/E-Verify_Native_Documents/OSC_Right_to_Work_Poster_ES.pdf