Lead 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 newCars 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 weRise 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 beOpen to All, encouraging open-minded communication because we know diverse thinking yields better outcomes. But critical to our success isCaring to ChallengeandTaking 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 ReportBest 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 remote role that may require onsite interviews] About the Role Join us in shaping the future of Automotive Commerce. At Cars Commerce, our Core Engineering Services - (Inventory) 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 Inventory Platform is the powerhouse behind the data in our business. We own the critical data services that process, normalize, and distribute vehicle data, the digital foundation that enables every part of the Cars Commerce ecosystem. This work enables dealerships and OEMs with innovative technical solutions and data-driven intelligence to better reach and influence ready-to-buy shoppers. As a Lead Software Engineer on our team, you ll be an autonomous and high-impact contributor, building and scaling high-throughput, API-first services and deploying to AWS EKS using Terraform. Your services fuel our most critical platform 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 data! 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. You are a systems thinker who can see commonalities and connections across multiple use cases and design solutions that can be utilized internally and externally. Above all, you re passionate about creating core capabilities and services that empower product teams to innovate quickly and reliably. Why You'll Be Excited About This Role: This opportunity enables you to... • Design and Develop Strategic, Scalable Systems: Lead the architecture, design, and development of high-performance, API-based backend services, making strategic,...