Principal Software Engineer, Algorithmic Traffic Acquisition

Who we are

At CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG), our mission is to give people the power to reach their destination. We started as a small team of developers determined to bring trust and transparency to car shopping. Since then, our history of innovation and go-to-market acceleration has driven industry-leading growth. In fact, we’re the largest and fastest-growing automotive marketplace, and we’ve been profitable for over 15 years.

What we do

The market is evolving, and we are too, moving the entire automotive journey online and guiding our customers through every step. That includes everything from the sale of an old car to the financing, purchase, and delivery of a new one. Today, tens of millions of consumers visit CarGurus.com each month, and ~30,000 dealerships use our products. But they're not the only ones who love CarGurus—our employees do, too. We have a people-first culture that fosters kindness, collaboration, and innovation, and empowers our Gurus with tools to fuel their career growth. Disrupting a trillion-dollar industry requires fresh and diverse perspectives. Come join us for the ride!

Role overview

The Algorithmic Traffic Acquisition team at CarGurus is looking for a Principal Software Development Engineer to help define and deliver the next generation of car recommendations for millions of shoppers. The Recommendations Team helps shoppers find the right cars by surfacing relevant vehicles, and helpful next steps across search, listings, saved cars, and AI-powered experiences.

In this role, you will provide technical leadership across the recommendation domain, from shopper understanding and preference signals to ranking, personalization, experimentation, reliability, and the product experiences that make recommendations useful and trustworthy. You will work closely with Data Science, Product, and other engineering teams to turn advances in machine learning and AI into intuitive consumer experiences that help shoppers find the right car faster. You’ll shape architecture and technical strategy, write code, mentor engineers, and work closely with teams across CarGurus.

What you’ll do

• Set the technical direction for our recommendation platform and drive architecture across multiple teams.
• Build scalable recommendation systems using shopper, vehicle, inventory, and behavioral signals.
• Partner with Data Science to productionize models and continuously improve recommendation quality.
• Drive personalization, ranking, experimentation, and AI-powered recommendation experiences throughout the shopper journey.
• Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives from technical design through delivery and measurement.
• Improve the reliability, scalability, observability, and operational excellence of recommendation services.
• Influence technical decisions across the organization, mentor engineers, and raise the engineering bar through design and code reviews.
• Leverage AI-assisted development to accelerate delivery while maintaining high standards for quality, security, and reliability.

What you’ll bring

• 10+ years of software engineering experience building and operating large-scale, customer-facing systems.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or similar field.
• Deep expertise in software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, and production engineering.
• Experience leading technical direction across teams and driving complex, multi-quarter initiatives.
• Strong experience with Kotlin, Java, C#, Python, or similar languages; Kotlin is preferred.
• Strong SQL and relational database experience, including performance considerations.
• Experience partnering with Data Science or ML teams to bring models into production.
• Excellent communication and influence skills, with a track record of aligning technical and cross-functional partners.
• Hands-on technical leadership, including coding, architecture, design reviews, and mentoring engineers.
• Curiosity about AI and experience using AI to improve products and engineering productivity.
• Experience building recommendation, personalization, search, ranking, marketplace, or discovery systems.
• Experience with machine learning platforms, real-time or batch feature pipelines, experimentation systems, model evaluation, or recommendation metrics.
• Experience building consumer products that help users compare options, make decisions, or navigate a complex purchase journey.
• Experience with cloud-native architectures, event-driven systems, streaming data, and high-volume services.

The displayed range represents the expected annual base salary / On-Target Earnings (OTE) for this position. On-Target Earnings (OTE) is inclusive of base salary and on-target commission earnings, which applies exclusively to sales roles.

Individual pay within this range is determined by work location and other factors such as job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

This annual base salary forms part of a comprehensive Total Rewards Package. In addition to benefits, this role may qualify for discretionary bonuses/incentives and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).

Working at CarGurus

We reward our Gurus’ curiosity and passion with best-in-class benefits and compensation, including equity for all employees, both when they start and as they continue to grow with us. Our career development and corporate giving programs, as well as our employee resource groups (ERGs) and communities, help people build connections while making an impact in personally meaningful ways. A flexible hybrid model and robust time off policies encourage work-life balance and individual well-being. Thoughtful perks like daily free lunch, a new car discount, meditation and fitness apps, commuting cost coverage, and more help our people create space for what matters most in their personal and professional lives.

CarGurus may require in-person interviews as part of our hiring process, particularly for positions based in our Boston and Dublin offices. Candidates selected for an in-person interview will be notified in advance. Please be aware that travel expenses are the responsibility of the candidate.

We welcome all

CarGurus strives to be a place to which people can bring the ultimate expression of themselves and their potential—starting with our hiring process. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We foster an inclusive environment that values people for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. That’s why we hope you’ll apply even if you don’t check every box listed in the job description. We also encourage you to tell your recruiter if you require accommodations to participate in our hiring process due to a disability so we can provide the appropriate support. We want to know what only you can bring to CarGurus.