Staff Software Engineer (CLAW Data Pod)

Are you a seasoned software engineer who thrives on building scalable systems and solving complex problems? At NerdWallet, our mission is to empower consumers with the financial clarity they need to make confident decisions. 

We are a moderately sized engineering organization supporting the consumer business unit and its aggressive growth plans. We are looking for a highly motivated Staff Software Engineer to join the Credit Cards / Lending / Banking / Investing (henceforth CLAW) Engineering team to partner with our leadership on the technical direction of our Data.   

If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, enjoy coding, and delivering value, this role is for you. As a Staff Engineer, you'll write extensive code, contribute to architecture and design, and elevate the quality of our deliverables while fostering team ownership of outcomes. We are an agile team practicing Sprints and indexing on continuous improvement and delivery.  

If you are here in 6 months, here are some things you might work on:

• Revolutionize Pricing Pipelines: Replace outdated Google Sheets-based workflows with a robust, automated pricing system, eliminating human error and enhancing reliability.
• Enable Data Visibility: Design and implement a comprehensive dashboard that delivers real-time, vertical-level data insights for improved decision-making.
• Streamline Investigations with Automation: Develop innovative solutions to automate manual investigations, empowering stakeholders with self-serve tools to resolve issues faster.
• Modernize Legacy Systems: Lead the migration of legacy systems (Datawarehouse, Autopilot, Reportgeist, Tableau) to Snowflake and an advanced local data mart, ensuring scalability and future readiness.
• Optimize Partner Integrations: Build and maintain API and file-based partner ingestion pipelines leveraging the homegrown ATARI framework to streamline data flow.
• Elevate Data Quality and Alerts: Overhaul and unify the alerting system, implementing advanced data quality checks to drive confidence in analytics.
• Empower Stakeholders with Data: Democratize access to data by creating user-friendly, self-service Snowflake reporting solutions that put insights at stakeholders’ fingertips and creating reliable, actionable data.
• Problem-Solving: Monitoring and troubleshooting platform issues while continuously improving performance

Where you can make an impact: 

• Driving meaningful and real revenue for Nerdwallet’s CLAW division
• Serving as a mentor to the engineers on the team you are assigned to
• Serving as a trusted advisor and tech lead for our Engineering Managers
• Delivering large amounts of features to live in a high quality fashion, serving as an example of what good looks like to the team
• Helping to drive our existing culture towards better engineering practices
• Helping to drive our existing culture towards strong continuous improvement thinking
• Helping to drive our existing culture towards failing fast and repairing faster
• Partnering with Management to continuously develop the engineering roadmap for our team

You are:

• You believe that time to market is more important than perfection.  You are biased to action and are happy to iterate along the way based on what we learn.  
• You aren't 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.
• You understand 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 deadlines, you often think smarter and figure out how to do both.
• You are 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:

We recognize not everyone will meet all of the criteria. If you meet most of the criteria below and you’re excited about the opportunity and willing to learn, we’d love to hear from you.

• 8+ years in software engineering, with a strong background in backend development, distributed systems and data pipelines.
• 3+ years of experience with AWS, Snowflake, DBT, Airflow or any other compatible systems.
• 3+ years of experience building APIs and building scalable backend systems.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Proficiency in modern programming languages such as Java, Python or Typescript.
• Experience with microservices architecture, RESTful APIs, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Strong understanding of database systems (both SQL and NoSQL), with experience in high-volume data processing.
• Knowledge of security best practices, particularly in financial services.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and orchestration technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience in consumer credit, lending, loans, or insurance, with a solid understanding of industry regulations, underwriting processes, and risk assessment.

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 – Vacation Time Off + 11 holidays + 4 Mental Health Days Off
• 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 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 
• Work from home equipment stipend and co-working space subsidy

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 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 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:

1. E-Verify Participation Poster (English+Spanish/Español)
2. Right to Work Poster (English) / (Spanish/Español)

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