Senior Director, Product Engineering

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

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.

• Q1-2026 Shareholder Update
• Q4-2025 Shareholder Update
• Q3-2025 Shareholder Update

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.