Lead Sr. Software Engineer

Cars.com LLC; United States; Remote; USD 135,300 - 169,150; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Home-office stipend

Generous PTO

Paid holidays

Volunteer days

Learning program

Job summary

Cars.com LLC is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to design and scale their core leads platform, focusing on high-performance API services. This role is 100% remote and requires a strong background in building large-scale backend systems and cloud technologies.

The successful candidate will collaborate across teams to drive best practices in system architecture, observability, and security while ensuring that every lead is processed with zero errors. Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, vision, and generous PTO.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience building large-scale, highly available backend systems.
• Proven track record delivering software in Agile environments.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain high-performance backend services.
• Ensure every lead is processed and delivered to dealerships.
• Lead architecture decisions and define technical roadmaps.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product managers and engineers.

Skills

API design

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

REST

GraphQL

gRPC

Agile environments

Observability solutions

Security principles

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

DataDog

Job description

Overview

Cars Commerce is a leading automotive technology company that simplifies buying and selling cars through a single data‑driven platform. This remote Lead Software Engineer role focuses on building and scaling the core leads platform.

About the Role

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will own critical components of the leads platform, designing API services that capture, route, and deliver leads to dealerships in real time. You will collaborate with engineering, product, and infrastructure teams to translate business goals into reliable, incremental outcomes and drive best‑in‑class practices for scalability, observability, security, and reliability.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain high‑performance, API‑based backend services for leads capture, routing, and delivery.
• Ensure every lead is processed and delivered to the appropriate dealership with zero errors.
• Lead architecture decisions, define technical roadmaps, and balance short‑term delivery with long‑term scalability.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product managers, engineers, and operations to align system design with business needs.
• Champion DevSecOps practices by implementing CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and security scanning.
• Drive observability, monitoring, and incident response, including on‑call duties and post‑mortem analysis.
• Document API contracts, system architecture, and operational procedures for internal and external users.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
• 8+ years of experience building large‑scale, highly available backend systems.
• Proven track record delivering software in Agile environments.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, REST, GraphQL, and gRPC.
• Strong understanding of relational and NoSQL databases, caching, and messaging systems.
• Experience designing observability solutions (e.g., DataDog) and implementing CI/CD pipelines.
• Solid grasp of security principles, including data encryption and secure API design.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Willingness to participate in on‑call rotation and incident post‑mortems.
• Bonus: Experience with Elixir/Phoenix.

Salary & Benefits

Salary Range: $135,300.00 – $169,150.00 (base). In addition to base salary, eligible for bonus and equity programs. Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, vision, home‑office stipend, generous PTO, paid holidays, volunteer days, and a learning program.

Employment Information

Remote only – 100% remote. Based in the United States; no visa sponsorship.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We are an equal‑opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.