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
As a Senior Principal Security Architect, you will be the technical visionary for our software and cloud security posture. This is a “force multiplier” role designed to bridge the gap between high-level business strategy and deep-level engineering execution. You won’t just be finding vulnerabilities; you will be architecting the “paved roads” that make it easy for our developers to build secure products by default. You will work closely with our senior application and cloud security engineers across the entire software development organization to design secure-by-default systems, shared libraries, and cloud infrastructure that protect our customers and our brand.
What you’ll do
- Lead the design of secure-by-default cloud patterns (AWS/GCP) and product features, ensuring security is integrated into the earliest stages of the design phase.
- Design and oversee the development of common security libraries—standardized AuthN/AuthZ, encryption wrappers, and input validation frameworks—that allow developers to ship code quickly and safely.
- Act as a technical partner to the CTO and Heads of Engineering, aligning security initiatives with business velocity and innovation.
- Lead complex threat modeling for high-stakes projects, identifying systemic architectural weaknesses and engineering them out of existence.
- Define and implement guardrails for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and container orchestration (Kubernetes) to maintain a zero-trust environment at scale.
- Serve as the ultimate technical escalation point and mentor for our senior security engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence across the organization.
What you’ll bring
- 12+ years of experience in cybersecurity, with at least 6 years focused on security architecture or lead engineering roles within a fast-paced product environment.
- Expert-level knowledge of cloud-native security (IAM policies, VPC design, KMS, Secrets Management, and Workload Identity).
- You can write production-grade code in at least two major languages (e.g., Go, Python, Java, or Rust) and have a proven track record of building shared libraries.
- You have a passion for solving security problems at the root. You don’t just fix a bug; you redesign the system to eliminate the entire class of vulnerability.
- You can explain complex cryptographic primitives or architectural trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders and developers with equal clarity.
- Deep understanding of OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, and cryptographic primitives (mTLS, AES-GCM, ECC).
- Experience with zero-trust architecture implementation in a large-scale microservices environment.
- Contributions to open-source security projects or involvement in the wider security research community.
- Experience securing high-scale data platforms or AI/ML pipelines
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).
Position Pay Range
$206,000—$258,000 USD
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
