Senior Manager, Software Engineering (Platform Systems)

At NerdWallet, our mission is to bring clarity to all of life's financial decisions. We cultivate an inclusive, flexible, and candid culture where every Nerd is empowered to grow, take smart risks, and be their authentic self. We support your thriving, whether remote or in-office, by investing in your well-being, development, and impact.

NerdWallet's Platform team is crucial for building and operating the foundational systems that power our consumer experience. This includes our centralized product data platform, partner ingestion pipelines, publishing and click-tracking infrastructure, GraphQL gateway operations, and our high-traffic, headless WordPress CMS. These platforms ensure accurate, compliant, and high-performance product and content experiences for millions of users across web and mobile.

We are seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead this vital team. In this role, you will drive the modernization of legacy services into scalable, reliable systems, advancing our vision for a decoupled, flexible platform that enables faster publishing, stronger observability, and future growth.

As the Senior Engineering Manager for Platform Systems, you will lead and support a team of engineers in delivering high-quality, scalable, and secure software that aligns with NerdWallet’s product and business goals. You will collaborate closely with Product and cross-functional partners to shape the roadmap, prioritize work, and remove obstacles, while fostering strong engineering practices and a culture of continuous learning. You will be accountable for technical quality, team health, and day-to-day execution, including mentoring engineers, making thoughtful technical decisions, and balancing immediate delivery with long-term maintainability, compliance, and reliability.

This role reports directly to the Director, Engineering.

Where You Can Make an Impact

• Lead, coach, and develop an engineering team responsible for NerdWallet’s core platform systems, including the Content Platform, CMS, and Product Data Platform.
• Partner with Product Managers and other cross-functional stakeholders to plan, prioritize, and execute against the product roadmap.
• Drive consistent execution of software development best practices, encompassing code quality, testing, documentation, and operational excellence.
• Contribute to and guide technical and architectural decisions, ensuring solutions are scalable, reliable, secure, and compliant with regulatory requirements.
• Balance platform evolution (e.g., headless CMS, APIs, content workflows) with stability for high-traffic, mission-critical systems.
• Manage sprint planning, project timelines, and delivery commitments, ensuring predictable and high-quality execution.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies, and delivery challenges, escalating and addressing them proactively.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, continuous improvement, and psychological safety.
• Support hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development for engineers at varying levels.
• Ensure systems owned by the team meet stringent availability, performance, and security standards.

Your Experience

• 8+ years of relevant software engineering experience.
• 5+ years of experience as a people manager of an engineering team.
• Proven experience delivering production software in complex, fast-paced environments within FinTech or other regulated industries.
• Demonstrated success owning and leading large-scale content management systems and headless architectures (our current platform is built on WordPress).
• Proven success leading large-scale backend systems.
• Strong understanding of the software development life cycle, agile methodologies, and modern engineering practices.
• Solid technical foundation with experience designing and building scalable, reliable, and secure systems.
• Proficiency in either PHP or Python, along with GraphQL, SQL, and TypeScript.
• Working knowledge of security best practices, data privacy, and compliance considerations in financial systems.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and support engineers at varying levels through clear, actionable feedback.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, enabling effective work with both technical and non-technical partners.
• Experience balancing delivery commitments with technical quality and long-term maintainability.
• Experience in developing scalable web applications with SEO in mind.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills, with a proven ability to manage and deliver complex engineering projects at scale and on time.
• A passion for mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, and creating inclusive, high-performing teams.

Where

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

NerdWallet believes great work can be done anywhere. We offer benefits and perks to support the physical, financial, and emotional well-being of you and your family, regardless of your location.

What We Offer

Work Hard, Stay Balanced

• 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 (Wifi Stipend eligible for remote Nerds only).
• Work from home equipment stipend and co-working space subsidy (eligible for remote Nerds only).

Have Some Fun!

• 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.
• Opportunity 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

• 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)

#LI-Remote

Compensation Range: $160K - $294K