Sr Product Manager

Cox Communications; Irvine (CA); Hybrid; USD 122,000 - 203,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vacation with pay

Seven holidays

Paid wellness

Job summary

Cox Automotive is seeking a Sr Product Manager to drive end-to-end ICO product initiatives, from discovery through delivery and measurement. You will partner with UX, analytics, marketing and business stakeholders to translate market needs into AI-enabled product specs, prototypes and roadmaps.

The role requires strong SAFe/Agile experience, backlog ownership, and a hands-on approach to AI tooling and prototyping. Hybrid work arrangement in the USA is supported.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related field and 4+ years of experience (or equivalent).
• Familiarity with SAFe Agile methodology and product lifecycle processes.
• Comfort with AI tools (Claude, Claude Code, Figma Make) for research, prototyping, and specs.

Responsibilities

• Discover, strategize, and scope ICO product opportunities based on market needs.
• Collaborate with UX, analytics, marketing, and business stakeholders to align product goals.
• Own backlog, define features, and guide agile delivery with clear specs.
• Build AI-enabled prototypes and artifacts to validate solutions before coding.

Skills

Product management

SAFe Agile

Backlog management

AI tooling

Stakeholder mgmt

Market research

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Rally

Claude

Figma Make

Job description

Company Cox Automotive - USA Job Family Group Engineering / Product Development Job Profile Sr Product Manager Management Level Individual Contributor 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 $121,800.00 - $203,000.00. 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

Job Summary

Discovers, develops and evaluates new product ideas, enhancements to existing products, and strategic product extensions within Cox Automotive's Instant Cash Offer (ICO) product. Compiles and evaluates research on market and consumer requirements, and translates validated opportunities into usable, marketable, AI-enabled product solutions. Establishes product specifications and coordinates with engineering, UX, analytics, marketing, and business stakeholders to ensure successful product development and implementation. This role operates under Cox Automotive's consolidated Product Creator model, which unifies Product Manager and Product Owner disciplines into a single, AI-native product practice spanning five practice areas: Market & Client Research, Product Strategy, Product Development, In-Market Product Performance, and Professional Essentials. The Sr Product Manager is expected to own end-to-end product work — from discovery through delivery and measurement — directing AI across the product lifecycle to accelerate the work, and building tangible artifacts (prototypes, specs, analyses) directly rather than waiting for a handoff.

Primary Duties / Key Responsibilities

• Discovery, Strategy & Market Understanding Studies ICO consumers, dealers, competitors, and market conditions to identify opportunities and inform what to build, drawing on customer segmentation, competitive intelligence, and problem/opportunity discovery.
• Partners with UX research, marketing research, client solutions, and business stakeholders to gather consumer and dealer feedback — pairing firsthand observation with AI-driven synthesis at scale.
• Develops and maintains product vision, business plans, and value proposition for ICO by aligning market, consumer, dealer, and business goals; contributes to roadmap development and commercialization planning.
• Evaluates consumer, market, and financial data; identifies emerging patterns, trends, and problems; recommends strategies and approaches for resolution.

Product Development & Delivery

• Provides Product Management support for broader and more complex ICO products and features, managing more complex aspects of the existing product line within a stable market.
• Owns backlog creation and refinement, incremental value versioning, and agile delivery tooling management (Rally) to translate validated opportunities into iteratively built and refined solutions.
• Authors high-quality specs that are clear enough for both teams and AI agents to execute without ambiguity, and manages feature development against them.
• Applies context engineering — building and maintaining reusable context (product vision, personas, prior decisions, research) to ground both human and AI-assisted work (discovery synthesis, story writing, spec drafting) in accurate, current information.
• Builds prototypes and working artifacts with AI-native tools (e.g., Claude, Claude Code, Figma Make) to validate solutions before engineering writes a line of code; runs experimentation and trade‑off analysis to validate product decisions.
• Manages stakeholder analysis and dependency management across cross‑functional teams (engineering, UX, analytics, marketing, sales, client solutions), and makes recommendations to agile release train teams with a bias toward action to move quickly on incomplete information.
• Manages product readiness and launch activities, ensuring the product addresses marketplace access, format, key features and functionality requirements, and service and support requirements.

Performance, Measurement & Continuous Improvement

Leverages product performance measurement, evaluation, and life cycle management to guide ongoing strategy and investment decisions. Collaborates cross‑functionally to evaluate opportunities with a promise of positive product / product line impact, and recommends and helps implement Product Management process improvement initiatives. Other duties as needed or required.

Required Experience & Specialized Knowledge and Skills

Education & Experience

Bachelor's degree in a related discipline and 4years' experience in a related field; or an equivalent combination such as a master's degree and 2years' experience, a Ph.D. and 1year of experience, or 12years' experience in a related field with no degree.

Familiarity with SAFe Agile methodology; hands‑on experience with product planning, lifecycle methodologies, research, analysis, epics, features, KPIs, and analytics.

Comfort using AI tools (e.g., Claude, Claude Code, Figma Make) to research, prototype, and author specs — and the judgment to critically evaluate what they produce.

Market & Client Research

Market & user research, customer segmentation, and competitive intelligence to inform what to build. Problem & opportunity identification, problem discovery, and research synthesis.

Product Strategy

Vision & strategy setting and solution discovery, aligning market, client, and business goals. Commercialization planning and roadmap development.

Product Development

Backlog creation & refinement and incremental value versioning; proficiency with agile delivery tooling (Rally or equivalent). Experimentation, trade‑off analysis, and product validation. Stakeholder analysis & management and dependency management across cross‑functional teams. Product readiness & launch management. Context engineering: builds and maintains structured context — product vision, personas, prior decisions, research — to improve the reliability of both human and AI‑assisted product work.

In‑Market Product Performance

Product performance measurement & evaluation, and product life cycle management, to guide strategy and investment.

Professional Essentials

Strong communication, collaboration & partnership, curiosity, enterprise thinking, and ownership mindset. Data‑driven decision making and technology savvy. AI‑native product building: fluent, hands‑on use of approved AI tooling (e.g., Rally‑integrated agentic workflows, Claude, Microsoft Copilot) for discovery synthesis, spec and story drafting, and stress‑testing product decisions — while maintaining data responsibility (no customer PII, dealer data, or confidential business information in AI tools).

Preferred Automotive industry experience with a focus on consumer or dealer software. Experience with vehicle valuation, appraisal, or trade‑in/disposal products.

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.