At NerdWallet, 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 engage