Sr. Product Manager

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, 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. As a U.S. News & World Report Best 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.

Senior Product Manager (Platform)

As a Senior Product Manager, Commerce Platform at Cars Commerce, you will help deliver on our vision to provide local automotive retailers with a streamlined platform offering of interoperable components that enable retail media and vertical software solutions.  You are a strategic partner to other Cars Commerce product teams and work collaboratively to define, create, and deliver critical platform capabilities (e.g. vehicle inventory and user authentication and role-based access control) that power automotive commerce experiences across our portfolio of products.  You will work with a cross-functional group of designers, engineers, researchers and analysts to form and execute a coherent and inspiring product roadmap (including defining, validating, and prioritizing epics/initiatives). You will support the definition of product goals and strategy and will advocate core product development principles across the business.

As a Senior Product Manager, you are a creative problem solver, a role model to other PMs, and an executor driven by positive outcomes for our users. You demonstrate trust in and dedication to our vision, mission and values. You have strong customer empathy and make product decisions based on both qualitative and quantitative customer and business data. You make decisions by optimizing for ROI and driving bottom-line/top-line performance. You have a passion for solving complex, multi-sided problems, developing strategies and roadmaps, and executing plans that create new value for our users and our business. You are a natural collaborator and communicator who has a track record of building positive relationships across a broad, diverse organization.

Essential Functions: 

• Guide the creation of scalable, reusable platform solutions that enable Cars Commerce product teams to deliver differentiated and delightful experiences for car shoppers and our dealer and OEM partners.

• Champion a platform mindset across the organization and work effectively with senior engineering partners to advocate for best practices.

• Be a hands on coach, mentor and role model to more junior Product Managers, while also building best in class products for your customers.

• Consistently deliver high value and impactful work, on schedule.

• Drive real customer and business value that shows up internally and externally, regularly and predictably.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teammates to improve our processes and ensure team alignment towards goals.

• Contribute to team level KPIs/OKRs, define product KPIs/OKRs, and monitor/manage product health and achievement toward those KPIs/OKRs.

• Establish effective, trusting relationships with key internal and external partners.

• Establish yourself as an expert and thought leader in your specific product space.

• Communicate roadmaps, updates and key accomplishments effectively and broadly throughout the organization. 

• Work across other internal teams to establish clear interconnected roadmaps to align on intersection points. 

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, computer science, or economics, or related field, or equivalent work experience. 

• 5+ years of experience as a product manager in a SaaS environment, with a demonstrated track record of shipping successful API-driven platform products that required partnering with multiple teams, organizations, and/or companies.

• Systems thinker with experience building intuitive and scalable systems that other product teams plug into

• Demonstrated product sense with an in-depth understanding of UX design principles and product experimentation (i.e. A/B testing, User testing, etc.).

• You have experience working across the entire product process (strategy through to delivery) and have exceptional grasp of the fundamental principles of product management, lean product development and agile practices.

• Experience defining KPIs and product metrics and using them to drive decisions, and pairing that with a sense for how and when to balance data with intuition.

Nice to Have Qualifications:

• MBA or other advanced degree.

• Experience working in automotive, e-commerce, retail, marketplaces, transportation, logistics, or a related sector.

• SQL, Tableau and/or other data analysis skills.

Salary Range

Our Comprehensive Benefits Package includes:

• Medical, Dental & Vision Healthcare Plans
• New Hire Stipend for Home Office Set-Up
• Generous PTO
• Refuel - a service based recognition program where employees receive additional paid time away to learn grow and reset
• 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. California Applicants: Click here to review our California Privacy Policy for Applicants. For current employees, please click here to review our California Privacy Policy for Employees.