Principal Software Development Engineer

Job description

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

We’re looking for an accomplished and motivated Principal Software Engineer to provide technical leadership for international product initiatives in our Canadian and UK markets. In this role, you’ll collaborate with multiple cross-functional teams, mentor engineers, drive complex architectural decisions, and ensure the delivery of robust, high-quality solutions that respond to the evolving demands of our international business.

Success in this role requires a balance of deep technical expertise and strong business judgement to guide teams in making strategic technology decisions that align with both immediate and future product needs. You must quickly learn and adapt to new challenges, working closely with engineers and stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable solutions.

Potential project opportunity examples:

• Design greenfield projects that use modern distributed systems and AWS technologies.
• Advise and support enhancements to existing products to assist shoppers with financing, appointment scheduling, and vehicle trade-ins.
• Architect and guide integrations with external partners, leveraging service-oriented architectures and NoSQL databases.

In this position, you’ll have the opportunity to shape the architecture, scalability, and long-term technical vision of our international teams. Car expertise is welcome but isn’t required, what matters most is your passion for technology, your commitment to engineering excellence, and your drive to have a real impact.

What you’ll do

• Work closely with engineers, product managers, and stakeholders across the company to gather new product requirements and transform them into effective technical solutions.
• Own the full development lifecycle from refining initial concepts and architecting advanced features as robust microservices, to implementing and delivering practical, high-quality systems.
• Contribute to high standards of quality by ensuring code is reliable, performant, and well-tested, with automated tests across the testing pyramid that ensure strong production health of our systems.
• Promote a culture of observability by helping teams leverage operational metrics to diagnose, mitigate, and resolve challenging production issues across multiple services and boost operational excellence.
• Use AI technologies, optimizing the software development process and driving greater efficiency across teams.
• Mentor engineers by offering guidance, actionable feedback, and insightful recommendations to support sound technical decision-making.

What you’ll bring

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or similar; or equivalent experience in computer science fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, design patterns, and complexity analysis.
• 8+ years of experience as a professional Software Engineer, including 3+ years serving as a technical lead or principal engineer working with Java (or similar languages), and frameworks such as Spring Boot and Hibernate.
• 5+ years of experience designing, building, deploying, scaling, testing, and evolving distributed systems and high-volume transaction applications using service-oriented architecture in ²⁴⁄₇ production environments.
• 2+ years of experience using cloud infrastructure technologies such as AWS, Terraform or similar cloud services.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience working with both relational and NoSQL databases, applying the right data models to diverse needs.
• Experience in operating and troubleshooting production systems.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication abilities, with a demonstrated talent for translating technical concepts for both engineering and business audiences.
• Consistent record of being self-motivated, resourceful, and proactive in driving projects and business goals.
• An aptitude for leveraging AI tools such as Windsurf, Cursor or similar to enhance software development and operational efficiency. Additional hands-on experience with LLMs is a huge plus.
• Fullstack experience is a plus.

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.

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. #LI-Hybrid