Director of Engineering

Role: Director of Engineering

Location: Bengaluru and Noida

Employment Type: Full-time

About the Company:

At PhysicsWallah (PW), we are on a mission to democratize education at scale in India. What started as a vision by our founder Alakh Pandey to provide high-quality, affordable education to every student has now grown into India's leading EdTech unicorn. We serve millions of students across online, offline, and hybrid modes, reaching 98% of India's pin codes.

We don't just build software; we build platforms that shape futures. Our technology team tackles massive scale—supporting huge concurrent user bases, streaming live classes seamlessly, and integrating AI to create personalized, interactive learning experiences. If you are passionate about leveraging cutting-edge technologies across frontend, backend, cloud, and AI to make a tangible impact on the next generation, PW is the place for you.

Responsibilities:

As an Engineering Director, you will act as a pivotal technical leader, driving the architecture and execution of full-stack platforms that serve millions of daily active users.

• Architectural Leadership: Drive the technical vision, system architecture, and technology stack choices across frontend and backend to ensure our platforms are highly scalable, secure, performant, and resilient.
• Full-Stack Engineering: Lead the development of robust backend services and scalable, high-performance frontend applications using technologies such as Node.js, NestJS, Golang, React.js, and Next.js.
• Team Building & Mentorship: Lead, manage, and mentor a high-performing team of Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and Software Development Engineers. Foster a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.
• Strategic Execution: Collaborate closely with Product, Design, and Business teams to align engineering deliverables with the company's product roadmap and business goals.
• Operational Excellence: Establish and enforce best practices in software development, CI/CD, automation, code reviews, testing, and system monitoring.
• Innovation & AI Integration: Spearhead the adoption of modern technologies, including AI/ML frameworks, to personalize student learning and optimize internal operations.
• Resource Management: Manage budgets, infrastructure costs, and engineering bandwidth effectively, honoring our core value of operational frugality without compromising on quality.

Requirements

• Experience: 10+ years of overall experience in software engineering, with at least 4+ years in a senior engineering leadership role (Director, Associate Director or Senior Engineering Manager).
• Full-Stack Technical Expertise: Strong experience across frontend and backend engineering, with expertise in technologies such as Node.js, NestJS, Golang, React.js, and Next.js.
• Backend & Distributed Systems: Deep understanding of system design, distributed systems, microservices, API design, and event-driven architectures.
• Frontend Architecture: Experience designing and scaling modern frontend applications, with strong understanding of performance optimization, frontend architecture, and user experience.
• Cloud & Infrastructure: Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization, microservices architecture, and event-driven systems.
• Database Mastery: Extensive knowledge of both SQL and NoSQL databases (MongoDB, PostgreSQL), caching mechanisms (Redis), and data sharding at scale.
• B2C Scale Experience: Proven track record of building and scaling high-traffic consumer tech products with massive Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU).
• Agile Methodology: Strong command over agile software development practices and a history of leading successful sprints and timely product launches.

What You Will Need

• A Student-First Mindset: A deep, genuine passion for education and an empathetic understanding of the challenges faced by students across the country.
• Problem-Solving DNA: The ability to break down complex, ambiguous technical problems into actionable, elegant solutions.
• Exceptional Communication: The clarity to translate highly technical concepts into plain language for non-technical stakeholders, and the ability to articulate business goals to engineering teams.
• Resilience & Agility: The energy to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment where priorities can shift to meet market demands.
• Frugal Innovation: The mindset to build smart, cost-effective technology solutions that allow us to keep our courses highly affordable for the masses.