Staff Back End Engineer (Full time contractor)

Overview:

We are looking for a Staff Back-end Engineer in LATAM to join the engineering team! As the Staff Back-End Engineer, you will set the technical direction for high-scale services, mentor engineers across squads, and shape the architecture that powers our learning products, driving reliability, performance, and secure-by-default systems while enabling AI-powered capabilities.

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:

• Q3-2025 Shareholder Letter
• Q2-2025 Shareholder Letter
• Q1-2025 Shareholder Letter

Responsibilities:

• Technical Leadership: Serve as the technical point of reference for the squad and broader engineering team, ensuring best practices and architectural standards are upheld.
  
  
• Solution Design: Lead the design and architectural discussions, making pivotal decisions on technologies, frameworks, and design patterns.
  
  
• Code Quality: Advocate for and ensure the delivery of high-quality, maintainable, and scalable code. Conduct regular code reviews and provide mentorship to team members.
  
  
• Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, designers, and other stakeholders to understand requirements, provide technical insights, and ensure the timely delivery of features.
  
  
• Strategy and Vision: Contribute to the engineering department's strategy and vision, bringing innovative ideas to improve our customer-facing experiences.
  
  
• Problem Solving: Address complex technical challenges, innovate solutions, and optimize existing systems for scalability and performance.
  
  
• Team Development: Mentor and develop team members, helping them to grow in their technical roles and careers.
  
  

Qualifications: 

• Minimum of 10 years of software engineering experience with a proven track record of working on complex systems.
• Expert-level proficiency in Java (Spring Boot); Python experience is a plus.
• Experience with Javascript/Typescript
• Explicit mentoring of senior-level engineers regularly, leading to results.
• Significant experience in AWS-based cloud architecture environments.
• In-depth knowledge of modern software engineering practices, design patterns, and architectures.
• Experienced with AI-native tools that enhance productivity and speed (Cursor, Make.com, Supabase, Netlify, Claude Code, n8n, Firecrawl, ChatGPT, Grok, Bolt, Vercel, etc).
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience in collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
• A strong owner willing to roll up their sleeves. This role includes coding and reviewing the code of others.
• Ability to implement customer-facing solutions that solve the customers’ true needs.
• Nerdy is an apolitical company focused solely on helping people learn, and we achieve the most when united in this mission.
  
  

Unleash Your Potential at Nerdy:

At Nerdy, you'll earn your success through meritocracy and exceptional outcomes. Our benefits reward performance and initiative:

• Competitive USD Compensation: Enjoy a market-leading rate paid in U.S. dollars.

• 100% Remote (Home Country Only): Work from anywhere in your home country—no relocation required, no borders crossed.

• Flexible Time Off: Our flexible PTO lets you recharge on your own terms and when you need it the most.

• Local Holiday Pay: We honor your nation’s official holidays with paid time off—celebrate what matters to you.

• Continuous Learning: Get a free, all-inclusive learning membership for you and your household—including 1-on-1 tutoring hours, unlimited on-demand classes, and access to our full suite of learning products and services.

• Supercharge with AI: Gain exclusive access to cutting-edge AI tools that boost your productivity, making you feel almost super-human (cape not included).

• Feedback-Rich, Collaborative Culture: Tap into regular training, peer reviews, and a team that treats every team member as a vital collaborator and owner in our success.

• Make a Global Impact: Your expertise fuels an innovative platform used by learners around the world—be part of something transformative.

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.