Overview:
The Senior Director, Product Engineering leads Nerdy's unified Product, Design, and Engineering organization, responsible for building and scaling our core learning products end-to-end. This is a senior leadership role accountable for product vision, design quality, engineering strategy, technical excellence, and team growth — there are no walls between "product," "design," and "engineering" here. You will own roadmap execution across multiple teams and cultivate a high-performing culture of builders who move fast and own outcomes.
About Nerdy:
At Nerdy (NYSE: NRDY) - the company behind Varsity Tutors - we’re redrawing the blueprint of learning. Our Live + AI™ platform fuses real-time human expertise with proprietary generative-AI systems, setting a new bar for measurable academic impact at global scale.
We recruit the kind of technologists and operators you’d bet on as solo founders - people who turn ambiguous problems into shipping code, iterate faster than markets move, and compound their advantage with every data point. In an era where great employees can deliver 10-times the leverage of the merely good, we back those who play to win.
Fortune favors the bold. Join us.
How we compete:
- AI-Native at every level
From the CEO to day-one hires, everyone builds and ships with generative AI. If you’re not wielding AI, you’re not done. - Entrepreneurial velocity
Move at founder speed, prototype in hours, and measure in real user outcomes. Slow teams die. - Free-market rigor
Ideas rise or fall on merit and results - no committees, no politics, no cap on upside. - Full-stack ownership
You design, build, and run what you ship; accountability is a feature, not a bug. - Reward for contribution
Pay rises with impact, not years. Outstanding results earn outsized rewards. We evaluate both what you achieve and how you achieve it: living our leadership principles and using AI effectively are formally measured and rewarded. - Relentless exploration
Push the frontier of generative AI in live learning and - because only the paranoid survive - questioning every legacy assumption along the way. - Is Apolitical
You stay focused on mission-aligned outcomes, not distractions or unrelated causes.
If you’re a technically minded builder who thrives on open competition, personal responsibility, and the chance to redefine how the world learns - while continually stretching the limits of what generative AI can do - come do the most ambitious and rewarding work of your career here. Learn more at nerdy.com.
Nerdy’s shareholder letters below explain our latest products and strategy:
Qualifications:
- 12+ years of software engineering experience, including 6+ years leading engineering teams.
- Proven experience managing managers and scaling engineering organizations of 20+ people.
- Strong technical background in building and operating large-scale distributed systems and web applications.
- Track record of delivering complex product initiatives in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders.
- Experience embedding AI tools into engineering workflows to accelerate development, and championing AI-native practices across teams.
- Experience defining technical strategy, architecture standards, and engineering processes.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence executive and technical audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, and retain high-performing engineering talent.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Responsibilities:
- Define and drive the product roadmap, engineering strategy, and technical vision for Nerdy's product engineering organization.
- Champion AI-native development practices, ensuring teams build and ship with generative AI at every level of the organization.
- Model AI-native behavior by personally building and shipping with AI tools alongside your teams.
- Guide teams in defining and integrating AI-powered features thoughtfully — prioritizing user value and reliable outcomes over novelty.
- Lead, mentor, and grow multiple engineering teams, including managers and senior individual contributors.
- Own delivery outcomes across teams, ensuring quality, reliability, security, and on-time execution.
- Establish engineering best practices, architecture standards, and operational excellence across systems.
- Manage organizational planning, hiring, headcount, and budget for the product engineering group.
- Drive scalability, performance, and reliability improvements across large distributed systems.
- Report on engineering health, progress, and risks to executive leadership.
- Champion an inclusive, collaborative, and results-oriented team culture.
Unleash Your Potential at Nerdy:
At Nerdy, you'll earn your success through meritocracy and exceptional outcomes. Our benefits reward performance and initiative:
- Competitive Compensation & Advancement: Market-leading salary paired with clear promotion pathways and equity (RSUs) - become an owner in our success.
- Retirement Made Simple: 401(k) plan with company match and immediate vesting.
- A Remote-First Culture: We embrace flexibility across time zones and working styles to attract top talent and meet learners where they are.
- Flexible Time Off: Recharge on your terms, ensuring maximum productivity.
- Continuous Learning: Access an all-inclusive learning membership for you and your household, including 1:1 tutoring hours, unlimited on-demand classes, and our full suite of learning products and services.
- Supercharge with AI: Leverage cutting-edge AI tools to accelerate your workflow.
- You’re Covered: Medical, dental, vision, life, STD & LTD plans plus strong maternity, paternity, and adoption leaves - numerous options for you and your family.
The Bottom Line:
If you're driven by impact, energized by ownership, and excited to help shape what’s next, you’ll thrive here. We move fast, think big, and reward those who deliver. This isn’t a traditional corporate environment - it’s a place to do the most meaningful work of your career.