Job Description
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, 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.
As a Lead Product Manager at CARS, you will own the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) product portfolio, including NCH (New Car Hub), NVI (New Vehicle Inventory), CPO (Certified Pre-Owned), and other OEM programs. This role will drive innovation and business-critical value delivery, uniquely combining core PM feature development, program management, and direct client engagement, requiring you to work fluidly between building great products and serving as a trusted partner to OEM clients and the OEM Sales team.About Us
Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) is a trusted audience-powered and data-driven technology platform that simplifies buying and selling cars. The flagshipCars.com marketplace connects millions of consumers to dealerships across the U.S., powering the car buying experience with artificial intelligence ("AI") shopping tools and comprehensive vehicle reviews and content. Our interconnected ecosystem of products enables dealers and OEMs to sell more cars by efficiently leveraging our marketplace, dealer websites, trade and appraisal tools, wholesale and proprietary in-market media solutions. Learn more at.
The role
As a Lead Product Manager at CARS, you will own the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) product portfolio, including NCH (New Car Hub), NVI (New Vehicle Inventory), CPO (Certified Pre-Owned), and other OEM programs. This role will drive innovation and business-critical value delivery, uniquely combining core PM feature development, program management, and direct client engagement, requiring you to work fluidly between building great products and serving as a trusted partner to OEM clients and the OEM Sales team.
As a Lead Product Manager, you are a creative problem solver, a role model to other PMs, and an executor driven by positive outcomes for our users and OEM partners. You bring deep customer empathy and make product decisions grounded in both qualitative and quantitative data. You balance feature development with program delivery and client commitments, and you are comfortable presenting roadmaps and product strategies to senior OEM executives. You have a passion for solving complex marketplace and automotive challenges, and a track record of building trusted relationships across diverse, matrixed organizations.
What You’ll Own
- Own and deliver the product roadmap for the OEM portfolio, including NCH, NVI, CPO, and related OEM programs.
- Act as a hands-on coach, mentor, and role model to more junior Product Managers, while building best-in-class products for OEM clients and end users.
- Serve as the primary product point of contact for OEM clients leading client-facing presentations, QBRs, and roadmap reviews in partnership with the OEM Sales team.
- Partner closely with OEM Sales to translate client needs, deal commitments, and market feedback into clear product requirements and prioritized backlog items.
- Understand OEM partners' and shoppers' problems in detail; define and prioritize tradeoffs between scope, schedule, cost, and business benefit to keep engineering focused on the highest-impact work.
- Manage concurrent OEM programs across cross-functional teams (engineering, design, data science, analytics), maintaining clear program plans, milestones, and risk visibility.
- Consistently deliver high-value, impactful work on schedule across both feature development and program deliverables.
- Drive real customer and business value that shows up internally and externally, regularly and predictably.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teammates to improve processes and ensure team alignment toward goals.
- Contribute to team-level KPIs/OKRs; define OEM product KPIs/OKRs and monitor product health and performance against those metrics.
- Establish effective, trusting relationships with key OEM clients, the OEM Sales team, and internal stakeholders.
- Establish yourself as the internal expert and thought leader on the OEM product space.
- Communicate roadmaps, updates, and key accomplishments effectively and broadly throughout the organization.
- Work across internal teams to align on interconnected roadmaps and manage dependencies between OEM programs and platform investments.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Economics, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
- At least 7 years of experience as a product manager (across mobile and web), with a history of delivering significant and meaningful business and customer outcomes across a full product line.
- Experience in the automotive industry, OEM, dealer technology, or adjacent automotive software/data platforms strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated product sense with an in-depth understanding of UX design principles and product experimentation (e.g., A/B testing, user testing).
- Experience working across the entire product process (strategy through delivery) with an exceptional grasp of product management fundamentals, lean product development, and agile practices.
- Proven client-facing skills: experience presenting to senior external stakeholders and managing ongoing client relationships.
- Experience defining KPIs and product metrics and using them to drive decisions, paired with a sense for when to balance data with intuition.
Preferred Qualifications:
- MBA or other advanced degree.
- Familiarity with OEM program structures including new car, CPO, and vehicle intelligence data products.
- Experience working with automotive sales channels and understanding of dealer/OEM go-to-market dynamics.
- Background in platform or data products; comfort discussing APIs, data pipelines, and integrations with engineering teams.
- SQL, Tableau, and/or other data analysis skills.
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$154,200.00-192,750.00Our 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!
For US-based Positions: Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. Please note that we are unable to sponsor employment visas at this time.
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: Click here to review our Privacy Policy for Applicants. For current employees, please click here to review our California Privacy Policy for Employees.
Originally posted on Himalayas
