ABOUT THE ROLE [May require onsite interviews] Join us in shaping the future of Automotive Commerce. We are undergoing a transformational and exciting shift to deliver a single platform that simplifies everything about buying and selling cars. We are unifying an ecosystem of automotive brands into a single, high-throughput, service-oriented platform.
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will be the technical north star for the Platform Core Services team. This team owns the high-concurrency engines-Identity, Inventory, and Leads-that power a multi-billion dollar marketplace. We're looking for a technical architect and "lead-from-the-front" builder to drive this transformation. This is a role for an engineer who wants end-to-end sovereignty over both backend systems and the product surfaces that transform data into actionable insights-from complex RBAC systems to sophisticated self-service UIs.
We are an AI-first organization. We leverage Claude Code to bypass the "boilerplate tax," allowing our engineers to spend the majority of their time on high-order systems design rather than routine implementation. This is a rare opportunity: the scale of an industry leader with the velocity and intellectual freedom of a high-growth startup.
ABOUT YOU As a Principal Software Engineer, you are a highly skilled, hands-on technical leader who can shape high-level technology strategy one hour and roll up your sleeves to solve a complex concurrency bug the next. You believe that the best code is written by humans empowered by world-class AI, and you thrive on solving the most challenging problems at the heart of a massive platform. You are a lifelong student of systems who uses data-not dogma-to improve, influence, and lead impactful change at scale.
WHY YOU'LL BE EXCITED ABOUT THIS ROLE This opportunity enables you to...
- Architectural Stewardship: Define the evolution of our services to support sub-second latency and massive concurrency. You will bridge the gap between heavy-lift backend systems and modern, intuitive UI products.
- AI Orchestration: Redefine the SDLC by integrating LLM-based orchestration into the development workflow, significantly increasing the organization's velocity.
- Influence via Data: Lead the RFC process by driving consensus across engineering and product boundaries. You don't rely on "title power"-you use data, benchmarks, and clear trade-off analysis to align stakeholders.
- Operational Excellence at Scale: Own the "Four Nines" (99.99%) for services handling tens of thousands of requests per second. You will treat observability and developer experience as first-class products.
- Force Multiplier: Act as a sponsor for Staff and Senior engineers. You are responsible for raising the technical "ceiling" of the entire engineering organization.
WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT YOU BECAUSE...- Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science or equivalent industry experience.
- Track Record: 12+ years of software engineering excellence, including significant time at the Staff or Principal level
- Backend Mastery: Deep expertise in designing high-concurrency distributed systems. You are comfortable navigating complex data-consistency models, event-driven architectures (Kafka/MSK), and optimizing for sub-second latency.
- Frontend as a System: You don't just "build UIs"; you architect extensible frontend platforms. This means designing robust State Management strategies, implementing complex RBAC across the stack, and ensuring UI performance through efficient data-fetching patterns.
- Pragmatic Polyglot: You are an expert in TypeScript/Node.js, but you are language-agnostic. You choose the tool that fits the problem, not the one that fits your comfort zone.
- AI-Native: You believe AI is the biggest shift in engineering since the Cloud. You have an established workflow for leveraging LLMs to accelerate personal and team-wide output.
- Strategic Advisory & Influence: You bridge the gap between technical possibility and business reality. You have a proven ability to drive consensus in complex environments by using data-not just opinion-to influence stakeholders and align engineering roadmaps with C-suite objectives.
- Architectural R&D: You don't just maintain a stack; you evolve it. You have a track record of evaluating emerging technologies (e.g., NewSQL, Edge Computing, or Agentic AI) and running proof-of-concepts that modernize the tech stack without disrupting production stability.
BONUS : Experience within a large-scale, "Big Tech," or high-growth environment or FAANG, Uber, Stripe etc
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. If the salary range is close to what you're seeking, then we encourage you to apply and learn more about the total compensation package for this position.
Salary Range
$175,800.00-219,750.00
Our Comprehensive Benefits Package includes:- 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!
