Software Engineer
US$170,000 – US$212,000 / yr base salary
Posted 31 Aug 2026
Advertised as “Principal Software Engineer, Algorithmic Traffic Acquisition”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Expected experience
- 10+ yrs
- Management level
- People management
- Employment
- Hybrid
| Base salary | US$170,000 – US$212,000 / yr |
|---|
Field of studyComputer Science, Engineering (or related)
Study levelBachelor's
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.