Lead Sr. Software Engineer

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, our reputation-based digital wholesale auction marketplace, Dealerclub, 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 Challengeand 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.

[This is a 100% remote role. May require onsite interviews]

About the Role

Join us in shaping the future of Automotive Commerce. At Cars Commerce, our Core Engineering Services (Leads Team) is on a mission to deliver one platform that simplifies everything about buying and selling cars, unifying the car-buying journey on a single, data-driven platform.

Our 'leads platform' is the powerhouse behind the leads services in our business. We own the engine that captures, routes, and delivers leads across Cars Commerce—connecting ready-to-buy shoppers with dealerships at the exact moment they're ready to act. We're integrated with major CRM systems, processing leads in real-time, and scaling to handle the majority of lead delivery across the business.

As a Lead Software Engineer, you'll own critical pieces of this platform: designing APIs that business units depend on and ensuring every lead makes it from shoppers to dealerships without a hitch.Your services fuels our platform’s capabilities, directly supporting the growth and tighter integration of our existing brands like New Cars, Used Cars, Car Dealers, Prices & Reviews | Cars.com , Dealer Inspire, and AccuTrade, which collectively support millions of users each month.

This is an incredible opportunity to make a direct impact. You’ll collaborate closely with Engineering and Product leadership to translate bold business goals into reliable, incremental outcomes. You will drive best-in-class engineering practices around scalability, observability, security, and reliability in your daily work. As you grow in the role, you’ll have the chance to deepen your technical expertise, own larger features and systems development, and contribute significantly to our architectural direction.

Join us and build the core capabilities that are redefining how the automotive industry shares Leads! 

About You

You are an experienced, results-driven Lead Software Engineer who thrives in building scalable and reliable backend systems. You have a strong foundation in designing and developing API-based services that can handle high traffic volumes while ensuring performance, security, and maintainability. You deeply understand software architecture and engineering best practices and are comfortable making strategic technical decisions that balance immediate speed and quality with long-term architectural runway and stability.

 You’re comfortable with both hands-on coding and providing technical direction on building backend services that meet evolving product requirements. You understand the importance of testing, observability, and CI/CD pipelines in delivering reliable systems.