Sr. Product Manager II

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. As a Lead Product Manager at CARS, you will own the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) product portfolio, including NCH (New Car Hub), NVI (New Vehicle Inventory), CPO (Certified Pre-Owned), and other OEM programs. This role will drive innovation and business-critical value delivery, uniquely combining core PM feature development, program management, and direct client engagement, requiring you to work fluidly between building great products and serving as a trusted partner to OEM clients and the OEM Sales team. About Us Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) is a trusted audience-powered and data-driven technology platform that simplifies buying and selling cars. The flagship Cars.com marketplace connects millions of consumers to dealerships across the U.S., powering the car buying experience with artificial intelligence ("AI") shopping tools and comprehensive vehicle reviews and content. Our interconnected ecosystem of products enables dealers and OEMs to sell more cars by efficiently leveraging our marketplace, dealer websites, trade and appraisal tools, wholesale and proprietary in-market media solutions. Learn more at www.carscommerce.inc . The role As a Lead Product Manager at CARS, you will own the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) product portfolio, including NCH (New Car Hub), NVI (New Vehicle Inventory), CPO (Certified Pre-Owned), and other OEM programs. This role will drive innovation and business-critical value delivery, uniquely combining core PM feature development, program management, and direct client engagement, requiring you to work fluidly between building great products and serving as a trusted partner to OEM clients and the OEM Sales team. As a Lead Product Manager, you are a creative problem solver, a role model to other PMs, and an executor driven by positive outcomes for our users and OEM partners. You bring deep customer empathy and make product decisions grounded in both qualitative and quantitative data. You balance feature development with program delivery and client commitments, and you are comfortable presenting roadmaps and product strategies to senior OEM executives. You have a passion for solving complex marketplace and automotive challenges, and a track record of building trusted relationships across diverse, matrixed organizations. What You’ll Own Own and deliver the product roadmap for the OEM portfolio, including NCH, NVI, CPO, and related OEM programs. Act as a hands-on coach, mentor, and role model to more junior Product Managers, while building best-in-class products for OEM clients and end users. Serve as the primary product point of contact for OEM clients leading client-facing presentations, QBRs, and roadmap reviews in partnership with the OEM Sales team. Partner closely with OEM Sales to translate client needs, deal commitments, and market feedback into clear product requirements and prioritized backlog items. Understand OEM partners' and shoppers' problems in detail; define and prioritize tradeoffs between scope, schedule, cost, and business benefit to keep engineering focused on the highest-impact work. Manage concurrent OEM programs across cross-functional teams (engineering, design, data science, analytics), maintaining clear program plans, milestones, and risk visibility. Consistently deliver high-value, impactful work on schedule across both feature development and program deliverables. Drive real customer and business value that shows up internally and externally, regularly and predictably. Collaborate with cross-functional teammates to improve processes and ensure team alignment toward goals. Contribute to team-level KPIs/OKRs; define OEM product KPIs/OKRs and monitor product health and performance against those metrics. Establish effective, trusting relationships with key OEM clients, the OEM Sales team, and internal stakeholders. Establish yourself as the internal expert and thought leader on the OEM product space. Communicate roadmaps, updates, and key accomplishments effectively and broadly throughout the organization. Work across internal teams to align on interconnected roadmaps and manage dependencies between OEM