Sr. Lead Product Owner
Cars Commerce Inc.
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Cars Commerce Inc. is looking for a Senior Lead Product Owner to drive the strategy, launch, and growth of dealer services for Canadian markets.
You will own the products and lead cross-functional teams to deliver value to dealerships and drivers, collaborating with sales, delivery, and product groups. This role emphasizes dealership operations expertise, not deep technical coding knowledge, and focuses on adoption of existing services and the launch of new solutions.
Qualifications
- 7+ years in dealership operations or a dealer-facing role.
- Fluent in English and French is a strong plus for communications with dealers and teams.
- Proven track record launching or growing dealer services with measurable results.
Responsibilities
- Own the vision, roadmap, and business results for a portfolio of dealer services.
- Define service offers: scope, levels, packaging, and pricing inputs.
- Lead cross-functional teams across engineering, AI/data science, UX, marketing, sales, and delivery.
Skills
Tools
Job description
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 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. We are proud to be named one of Built In’s 2026 Best Places to Work in Chicago and across the U.S. Ready to make your mark? Join a team that’s driving real change in the automotive industry.
Summary -
The Sr. Lead Product Owner leads the strategy, launch, and growth of a portfolio of dealer services designed to help automotive dealerships generate more appointments, close more deals, and retain more customers.
This role focuses on growing adoption of our existing dealer services across Canada and launching new services our dealers already buy from third parties today. It calls for deep dealership operations expertise rather than a technical background: this person owns the products, and the teams around them sell, deliver, and build them.
The Sr. Lead Product Owner ensures each service delivers measurable business value and is backed by stable operations and strong support processes, driving dealer performance, revenue growth, and long-term dealer retention.
Join us in shaping a future of Automotive Commerce in Canada, D2C Media builds solutions for automotive dealerships, manufacturers, and consumers. Our driving force is to deliver a single platform that simplifies everything about buying and selling cars. The D2C Media Team drives our Dealer Websites, CRM, Inventory management and our AI driven platforms. We are on a transformational journey, building innovative and integrated services that redefine how we deliver value to our customers.
As a Senior Lead Product Owner on our D2C Media Team, you will lead the strategy, launch, and growth of a portfolio of dealer services designed to help automotive dealerships generate more appointments, close more deals, and retain more customers. This is an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of our platform and drive meaningful change at scale, making a lasting impact within the automotive industry.
You’re an experienced, results-oriented, Product Owner who blends industry knowledge with product growth. This role focuses on growing adoption of our existing dealer services across Canada and launching new services our dealers already buy from third parties today. It calls for deep dealership operations expertise rather than a technical background. This person owns the products, and the teams around them sell, deliver, and build them.
The Sr. Lead Product Owner ensures each service delivers measurable business value and is backed by stable operations and strong support processes, driving dealer performance, revenue growth, and long‑term dealer retention. Above all, you’re passionate about creating core capabilities and components that empower product and platform teams to innovate quickly and reliably.
This opportunity enables you to…
- Own the vision, roadmap, and business results for a portfolio of dealer services.
- Define each service offer: scope, service levels, packaging, and pricing input.
- Act as the voice of the dealer, translating dealership realities into clear priorities for the teams that build and deliver each service.
- Increase adoption of our existing dealer services across our Canadian dealer base.
- Define best‑practice dealership processes, from lead response and follow‑up to appointment setting, show rate, and handoff to the sales floor.
- Define how AI‑powered tools such as intelligent chat, voice assistants, predictive lead scoring, and automated follow‑ups are applied across our dealer services.
- Identify where AI and automation can improve dealer results, and where the human touch matters most.
- Continuously optimize the dealer and shopper journey, from first contact to appointment, sale, and ongoing service.
- Partner with AI and data science teams to set requirements, validate results, and scale what works.
- Build the business case and go‑to‑market plan for new dealer services in Canada.
- Define the service delivery model with the internal teams and partners who will deliver it.
- Pilot with early dealers, prove results, and scale.
- Equip sales teams with positioning, pitch materials, ROI stories, and competitive comparisons.
- Define onboarding, delivery playbooks, and quality standards for the teams delivering each service.
- Collaborate with engineering, AI/data science, UX, marketing, sales, and delivery teams to deliver high-impact services and features.
- Align roadmaps with the Cars Commerce and dealer technology ecosystem.
- Lead through influence, driving results with teams you don’t directly manage.
- Ensure each service runs on stable operations and a clear, responsive support process.
- Monitor service quality and dealer satisfaction, and address issues before they put retention at risk.
- Define and track key KPIs, including adoption, recurring revenue, dealer retention, and dealer performance results (appointments, show rate, sales, and campaign ROI).
- Build trusted relationships with internal teams, dealerships, and partners.
- Communicate progress, performance, wins, and risks to leadership.
- 7+ years in dealership operations or a dealer-facing role (e.g., BDC Manager, F&I / Business Manager, Service Manager, General Manager, or dealer performance consultant).
- Hands‑on expertise in at least one of BDC, F&I, or service and customer retention, with working knowledge of the others.
- Proven track record of launching or growing a service sold to dealers, or turning around a dealership department with measurable results.
- Strong understanding of dealership economics and the ability to build a simple, credible business case.
- Confident user of dealer CRM and DMS tools. No technical or coding background required.
- Ability to lead through influence, driving results with sales, delivery, and product teams you don’t directly manage.
- Experience applying AI and automation tools in a dealership or dealer‑facing environment; comfortable defining how they should work, without needing to build them.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills; organized and able to work with minimal supervision.
- Bilingualism, French and English.
- Canadian automotive retail experience.
In the spirit of pay transparency, we are excited to share the base salary range for this position. In addition to base salary, some roles are eligible for our bonus and/or equity programs, depending on level and role. Regular full‑time positions are eligible for our comprehensive benefits package. If you are hired at Cars Commerce, your final base salary compensation will be determined based on factors such as skills and/or experience.
$156,400.00-195,500.00
- Medical, Dental & Vision Healthcare Plans
- New Hire Stipend for Home Office Set-Up
- Generous PTO
- Paid Holidays, Floating Holiday, Volunteer Day, Recharge Day
Learn more about our Benefits, Perks, & Culture on our LinkedIn Life Pages!
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. Applicants: Clickhere to review our Privacy Policy for Applicants. For current employees, please Clickhere to review our California Privacy Policy for Employees.
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