Senior Manager, Software Engineering (SMB)

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.

NerdWallet is looking for an experienced Senior Manager, Software Engineering to lead and oversee multiple full-stack engineering teams to ensure successful design, development, and delivery of high quality products for the SMB (Small and Medium Business) team at NerdWallet.

The Senior Manager, Software Engineering role will act as a key technical leader and direct the strategy and evolution of a mature product. In this role you will identify subtle, but high-impact areas for innovation and expansion that maximize business value. You will leverage your strong technical judgment and data architecture fluency to ensure that systems are scalable, reliable, and built for growth. You’re comfortable diving into code and product reviews when needed, setting a high bar for engineering excellence. As the technical expert, you will help stakeholders at all levels across engineering, product, and business teams connect the dots between technical execution and business objectives in order to drive prioritization to ensure that the team moves quickly from ideation to impact and know when to make trade-offs between speed and quality and/or knowing when to prioritize experimentation or stability.

This role reports to the Director, Product Management.

Where you can make an impact:

• Engineering Leadership & Execution

• Lead and mentor a high-performing team of 12+ software engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, technical excellence, and collaboration.

• Partner with Product and Senior Leadership, to develop a business strategy and long-term roadmap for an entire platform and product portfolio, balancing stability, maintenance, and strategic innovation.

• Oversee the design, development, testing, and deployment of complex, high-volume, and reliable systems that meet rigorous quality standards.

• Maintain and improve operational excellence (monitoring, SLAs, post-mortems, etc.).

• Manage engineers' career paths and performance through setting objectives, regular feedback, and technical mentorship, sharing best practices.

• Data-Driven Yield Optimization

• Establish a robust, data-centric strategy for identifying, quantifying, and eliminating yield/efficiency detractors within the product's operational flows.

• Partner closely with Product Management to implement the necessary data infrastructure, pipelines, and tooling to capture granular operational metrics that directly inform yield.

• Drive the execution of engineering projects specifically aimed at increasing business yield (e.g., optimizing resource allocation, reducing transaction failure rates, improving throughput, lowering latency/cost) based on newly derived data insights.

• Product Innovation & Strategy

• Translate complex business goals related to yield and efficiency into clear, executable technical requirements and engineering deliverables.

• Champion best practices in engineering, including code review, performance tuning, system reliability, and disaster recovery.

Your experience:

• 8+ years of experience within the software engineering industry, including as an IC and engineering manager with 5+ years managing engineers.

• Strong technical background and analytical abilities.

• Experience in developing commercially successful web applications, at scale, using Ruby on Rails. Others like React, Next.js, Astro, GraphQL, and modern JavaScript languages like TypeScript, are nice to have.

• Experience engaging in knowledgeable discussions about systems architecture, data flows, and data structures specifically a long standing Ruby on Rails application.

• Experience working in a fast-paced company navigating ambiguity.

• Strong background in project management, with a proven track record of managing and delivering complex engineering projects at scale and on time.

• Past coding experience on consumer-focused teams.

• Strong problem solving and decision making abilities.

• Strong organizational and time management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in Cloud based technologies like AWS.

• Experience in scrum and sprint processes.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.

• Commitment to continuous learning and professional development.

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, NerdWallet 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 NerdWallet 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 NerdLove (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.

NerdWallet 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, as well as the Los Angeles Fair Chance Act, which requires this notice.

NerdWallet 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)

• Right to Work Poster (English) / (Spanish/Español) 

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