Company

Cox Automotive - USAEngineering / Product DevelopmentLead Software EngineerManager - Non People LeaderHybrid - Ability to work remotely part of the weekNoDay

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary in the range of $134,900.00 - $224,900.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

Lead Software Engineer

Full-Stack Engineering

Department: Engineering / Product Development

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: Senior (7+ years)

About the Role

We are looking for a Lead Software Engineer to own the technical direction of a full-stack product team. You will operate across the entire stack — from the component library and client-side state management layer through APIs, services, and data stores — making sure the pieces fit together into a cohesive, performant, and maintainable product. You’ll pair deep hands-on coding with the judgment to decide what to build, how to build it, and when to push back.

This is a senior technical leadership role. You will set architectural direction, raise the quality bar through code review and design guidance, mentor engineers at every level, and partner closely with Product and Design to turn ambiguous problems into shipped software. You lead by building trust — through the quality of your technical decisions, the clarity of your communication, and your commitment to the team’s growth.

What You’ll Do

Technical Leadership

Define and drive the full-stack technical roadmap in partnership with Product and Design, balancing feature velocity with platform health and technical debt reduction.

Establish and evolve architectural standards, coding conventions, and design patterns across frontend and backend systems.

Lead design reviews and RFC processes for significant features and system changes; serve as the final technical decision-maker for the team.

Own cross-cutting concerns — API contract design, authentication/authorization flows, performance budgets, accessibility standards, and data modeling strategy.

Represent the team in cross-functional architecture forums; communicate technical trade-offs, risks, and timelines to engineering leadership and non-technical stakeholders.

Frontend Engineering

Architect and build modern, responsive user interfaces using React (or equivalent framework) with a focus on performance, accessibility, and developer ergonomics.

Define and maintain the component library and design system implementation, ensuring consistency between design specs and shipped UI.

Drive frontend performance — bundle optimization, code splitting, lazy loading, caching strategies, and Core Web Vitals improvement.

Establish frontend testing strategy including unit, integration, visual regression, and end-to-end tests.

Champion accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA) and internationalization as first-class engineering concerns, not afterthoughts.

Backend Engineering

Design, build, and scale RESTful and/or GraphQL APIs that serve the product’s frontend, mobile clients, and third-party integrations.

Architect backend services for reliability, horizontal scalability, and operational clarity — clean domain boundaries, idempotent operations, graceful degradation, and structured logging.

Own data modeling and database design (relational and/or NoSQL); optimize query performance, indexing strategies, and migration workflows.

Implement and enforce authentication, authorization, and >

To be employed in this role, you’ll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company’s needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.Through groundbreaking technology and a commitment to stellar experiences for drivers and dealers alike, Cox Automotive employees are transforming the way the world buys, owns, sells – or simply uses – cars. Cox Automotive employees get to work on iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and industry-leading dealer-facing companies like vAuto and Manheim, all while enjoying the people-centered atmosphere that is central to our life at Cox. Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page. Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer – All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual’s age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship.

EOE, including disability/vets