Lead Frontend Software Engineer (Next.js & React)

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 Challengeand 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. As a U.S. News & World Report Best Company to Work For in 2024, we're obsessive about the employee experience. We are among the top 20% being declared “Best” of our industry based on six critical factors that are important to employee wellbeing, like quality of pay, benefits, work life balance and more.

About the Role

Join us in shaping a future of Automotive Commerce. Cars Commerce builds solutions for automotive dealerships, manufacturers, and consumers. Our driving force is to deliver a single platform that simplifies everything about buying and selling cars. 

This is an exciting and high-impact, greenfield opportunity to drive the development of our newest dealer-facing product. You will architect how we surface actionable insights to enable dealers to sell more cars and how dealers manage their business through self-service—from instant onboarding and product configuration to complex user permissions (RBAC).

We are an AI-first engineering organization. We leverage Claude Code and Next.js/React to ship at a velocity that traditional teams can’t match. If you want to build a "must-have" product from the ground up using the most advanced developer toolchain available, this is your role.

About You [100% remote role in Chicago area. May require onsite interviews]

As a Lead Frontend Software Engineer, you are a builder who thrives in the "v1 to v10" phase of a product. You are an AI-native engineer—someone who has mastered Claude Code to automate the mundane, allowing you to focus on high-level systems design and delivering immediate business value.

You champion performance (Core Web Vitals, caching, async assets), prioritize usability and accessibility, and bring a platform mindset to frontend development. You understand that even in a gated, authenticated application, speed and reliability are the foundations of user trust. You understand the importance of testing, observability, and CI/CD build pipelines to reliably and consistently deliver value-driving applications. You don't just "write code"; you build resilient systems that scale.

Why You'll Be Excited About This Role

This opportunity enables you to...

• Lead Greenfield Architecture & Development: Own the development of our newly launched Hub website. You will architect high-performance interfaces in Next.js and React, establishing the foundational patterns for our authenticated experience—including data insights, automated onboarding, product configuration, and user management.

• Author and Evolve Component Libraries: Lead design and development of shared UI components and design systems, with attention to accessibility, theming, maintainability, and developer ergonomics.

• Drive Product Value & Insights: Partner with data and product teams to turn raw data into "Must-Have" insights that help dealers sell more cars and operate more efficiently.

• Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with engineering, design, and product partners across teams to align on front-end strategies and standards, elevate UI consistency, and reduce duplication.

• AI-Orchestration: Multiply the team’s output by leveraging Claude Code to rapidly scaffold new features, automate boilerplate, and enhance test coverage, ensuring that speed never compromises architectural integrity.

• Engineering Excellence: Own the long-term health of the product by implementing robust testing, observability, and CI/CD pipelines. You will participate in an on-call rotation, providing prompt incident resolution and conducting postmortems to ensure our product remains stable and performant.

• Mentorship & Technical Leadership: Set the technical standards for the team, coaching other engineers in AI-assisted workflows and "platform-thinking" to level up the entire team.

We're Excited About You Because You Have …..

• Foundational Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience. 8+ years of front-end software engineering experience 

• Technical Mastery: Expert proficiency in Next.js, React, and TypeScript. Demonstrated experience building accessible, themeable design systems and familiarity with Server Driven UI (SDUI).

• Systems Architecture: Proven ability to design scalable front-end architectures for SaaS or B2B enterprise tools. You have experience building complex, state-heavy applications where self-service workflows and data clarity are paramount.

• AI Mastery: High proficiency with Claude Code (or similar LLM-based development tools). Demonstrated history of integrating AI into your workflow to multiply velocity and automate the routine aspects of software development.

• Platform & Integration: Deep knowledge of browser fundamentals (HTML/CSS, DOM, rendering) and Core Web Vitals optimization. Solid understanding of RESTful APIs and secure authentication/authorization patterns (OAuth, JWT, RBAC).

• Communication & Collaboration: Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, build consensus, and partner with product and design to turn a vision into a "must-have" product.

• Operational Excellence: Experience with modern CI/CD (GitHub Actions), UI testing frameworks, and instrumenting observability (Datadog). Willingness to participate in an on-call rotation, providing prompt incident resolution.

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

$135,300.00-169,150.00

Our 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.
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