Sr. Manager, Software Engineering

Be essential at Cars Commerce

At Cars Commerce, we’re fanatical about simplifying everything about car buying and selling. We do right by our customers and consumers to better connect the industry with simplified and tierless technology to enhance, measure and drive local automotive retail. Whether through our No.1 most recognized marketplace, Cars.com, our industry-leading digital experience, Dealer Inspire, our trade and appraisal technology, AccuTrade, or our new Cars Commerce Media Network, Cars Commerce is essential for success in the automotive industry.  

No one ever travels alone here: at its core, Cars Commerce is collaboration. In fact, it’s built into the very fabric of our shared values. We like to say we Rise Together – putting people at the center of what we do, from consumer to customer to community. Life at Cars Commerce makes it easy when we share the ethos to be Open to All, encouraging open-minded communication because we know diverse thinking yields better outcomes. But critical to our success is Caring to Challenge and Taking Ownership, fueling a competitive spirit in a respectful environment where we think about tomorrow but act today. At our foundation, we have integrity, Doing the Right Thing, even when it’s hard. It’s our shared commitment to these values that makes Cars Commerce a place where growth becomes not only possible, but downright unavoidable.

But don’t take our word for it. As a U.S. News & World Report Best Company to Work For in 2024, we're obsessive about the employee experience. We are among the top 20% being declared “Best” of our industry based on six critical factors that are important to employee wellbeing, like quality of pay, benefits, work life balance and more.

Senior Engineering Manager - Transactional Platform

Lead autonomous engineering teams building high-throughput, API-first services that power payments, credit applications, and incentives management across Cars Commerce's unified car-buying platform. You'll partner with Product leadership to translate business goals into measurable roadmaps, champion engineering excellence, and serve as incident commander for production reliability. Beyond managing teams, you'll influence platform architecture and drive cross-domain integrations that unlock new revenue streams.

We're seeking an empathetic, outcomes-oriented leader with 10+ years in software engineering and 5+ years leading teams. You should have strong experience with cloud-native architectures (AWS, Kubernetes), API-driven systems, and scaling backend services. Most importantly, you foster psychological safety, use data to drive decisions, and believe great ideas can come from anywhere. Don't worry if your tech stack or automotive experience isn't a perfect match—curiosity, action orientation, and inclusive leadership matter more than checking every box.

About the Role

Cars Commerce is unifying the car-buying journey on a single, data-driven platform, and Transactional Platform supplies systems like payments, credit applications, incentives management, and other capabilities that enable transactional functionality across every brand in our portfolio. As a Senior Engineering Manager, you’ll guide autonomous teams that own several high-throughput, API-first services built in PHP / Node.js and deployed on AWS EKS / ECS. You’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with Product leadership to turn six- to twelve-month business goals into an incremental, measurable roadmap; champion sound engineering practices around observability, security and on-call health; and serve as incident commander and steward of production reliability for your domain. Beyond your immediate teams, you’ll influence platform architecture, shape cross-domain integrations that unlock new revenue streams, and help set the technical direction for the wider organization.

About You

You’re an empathetic, outcomes-oriented leader who balances people, process and produ