Principal Architect

Cox Communications; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 163,000 - 272,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work option

Incentive program

Job summary

Cox Automotive USA is seeking a Principal Architect to shape platform architecture, set long‑term direction, and align multiple teams around a shared technology strategy. You will partner with product and engineering leadership to deliver omni‑channel experiences, B2B APIs, and Gen AI capabilities for dealers.

This role requires deep automotive domain knowledge, hands‑on discovery, and superb influencing skills to drive scalable, cost‑effective solutions across workloads and teams.

Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of related experience.
• Experience with cloud-native architectures and AWS.
• Experience delivering mission-critical applications in production.

Responsibilities

• Set the platform architectural direction, long-term vision, and guiding principles.
• Participate in planning and high-level design of solutions.
• Work with multiple Release Trains to identify dependencies and define integration strategies.
• Provide guidance to engineers and architects on requirements, interfaces, and testing strategies.

Skills

Platform architecture

Cloud-native

API-first

Leadership

Communication

Git/CI

Node.js

Python

Java

React/TypeScript

Education

Bachelor's degree in related field

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

AWS

Serverless

Docker

Kubernetes

SQL/NoSQL

OIDC/SAML/SCIM

Job description

Company Cox Automotive - USA Job Family Group Engineering / Product Development Job Profile Principal Architect Management Level Director Flexible Work Option Hybrid - Ability to work remotely part of the week Travel % No Work Shift Day Compensation Compensation includes a base salary in the range of $163,400.00 - $272,300.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

Job Description

Cox Automotive offers you the chance to take a leading role in the digital revolution of the automotive industry. We are on a journey to build out new omni channel experiences, B2B APIs, and Gen AI capabilities for automotive retailers. You will partner with our product and engineering leadership to solve key consumer problems and deliver connected client experiences for car dealerships including: CRM, desking, FNI, vehicle valuation, acquisition, pricing, inventory management, merchandising, servicing, and delivery. We are looking for someone with deep automotive experience who knows what it takes to make complex workloads work together. The right individual balances product solutioning with hands-on technical discovery and is able to influence the larger community of software engineers and product owners to align everyone to a shared technology direction and strategy. While providing a general view of the solution architecture, they enable implementation teams to make local decisions to provide a faster flow of value and better economics. This role involves tight collaboration with business stakeholders, teams, vendors, partners, and customers in defining the technology infrastructure, decomposition into components and subsystems, and the definition of interfaces between subsystems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Set the platform architectural direction, long-term vision, and guiding principles.
• Participate in the planning, definition, and high-level design of the solutions.
• Work with multiple Release Trains to identify dependencies and define integration strategies.
• Provide guidance to engineers and technical architects in clarifying requirements, allocating responsibilities to subsystems, defining interfaces, and stablishing delivery automation and testing strategies.
• Identify required architectural runway in support of upcoming business features and capabilities.
• Work with product and engineering counterparts to ensure that it is prioritized and delivered.
• Frame technical and architectural alternatives in business terms, clearly articulating both business and technical implications of various options.
• Operate within the retail platform's financial framework to validate the economic impact of design decisions.
• Champion sound architectural solutions and effectively advocate for them at all levels of the organization.
• Establish critical non-functional requirements at the platform level.
• Partner with other areas of Cox Automotive to promote the strategic development and re-use of shared capabilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline and 10 years’ experience in a related field.
• The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master's degree and 8 years’ experience; a Ph.D. and 5 years’ experience in a related field; or 14 years’ experience in a related field.
• Experience with cloud-native architectures and delivering software and services leveraging cloud infrastructure such as AWS.
• 8 years of experience in full development life cycle and significant experience in delivering mission-critical applications and services in a production environment for a industry.
• Experience building software with API-first approach using serverless technologies, containers, and distributed architectures.
• Strong foundational knowledge of software engineering and familiarity with various technologies such as OIDC, SAML, SCIM, SQL, NoSQL, Node.js, Python, Java, React, and JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Experience building, integrating, and testing complex software products composed by multiple workloads and teams.
• Exemplary consulting skills and a track record of applying these skills as a practicing architect.
• Outstanding verbal, written, presentation, facilitation, and interaction skills, including ability to effectively communicate architectural issues and concepts to multiple organization levels.
• Skills to work effectively with teams throughout organization.
• 4 years of experience as a solution or technical architect.

Drug Testing

To be employed in this role, you'll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.

Benefits

• The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company's needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members.
• Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.

About Us

Through groundbreaking technology and a commitment to stellar experiences for drivers and dealers alike, Cox Automotive employees are transforming the way the world buys, owns, sells - or simply uses - cars. Cox Automotive employees get to work on iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and industry-leading dealer-facing companies like vAuto and Manheim, all while enjoying the people-centered atmosphere that is central to our life at Cox. Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page.

Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer - All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual's age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship. EOE, including disability/vets

Cox brings together the world's greatest minds to help breathe life into new possibilities - and drive innovation for a better future. That's why we look for individuals who share our pioneering spirit, have imaginative ideas and are fearless when it comes to tackling the world's biggest challenges. Our people love technology - and they love making a difference. They have a passion for finding new solutions and working with brilliant colleagues. Every day they dedicate themselves to a huge range of exciting projects, contributing to the Cox vision around the globe. From engineering new sustainability solutions that conserve water and energy to creating the infrastructure for the smart cities of tomorrow, there's no challenge too great for our pioneers. And there's no shortage of opportunities for you to make a difference. Come and experience the dynamic, collaborative and creative environments where your ideas are welcome and new discoveries are waiting. To help you grow to your full potential, we strive to support our employees in their career aspirations and promote the freedom to explore new horizons.