Job Description

About Carvana...

At Carvana, we’re changing the way people buy and sell cars. With an ambitious vision and a fundamentally different approach designed to be fun, fast, and fair, Carvana became the fastest-growing automotive retailer in history. We expanded nationally, went public on the New York Stock Exchange, sold our 1 millionth car, and reached the Fortune 500, all in just eight years.

Today, with 4 million retail customers and counting, Carvana is both the fastest-growing and the most profitable public automotive retailer, and we’re just getting started. We continue to raise the bar for our customers as we tackle the enormous opportunity still ahead in the largest consumer vertical.

Working here means being part of a team that embraces change, celebrates creative problem solving, and always strives to be better. At Carvana, you’ll have the opportunity to take on meaningful challenges, learn quickly, and help shape the future of automotive retail. If you’re driven to grow and make an impact as part of a collaborative team, you’ll fit right in. Learn more about what it’s like to work here from the people that already do

Work Model: This is a 100% on-site role at our Tempe office, Monday through Friday.

About the team and position

We're looking for a player-coach Engineering Manager to join our Decision Support Systems team within the larger Analytics group at Carvana. Our team builds algorithms, models, and optimization tools that power Carvana's logistics operations. We develop and maintain systems that optimize the movement of 15K+ vehicles per month cross-country using our car hauler and single car hauler fleet. We develop, test, and maintain near real-time algorithms and systems that continuously optimize vehicle and truck movements, delivery dates promised to customers, and availability of appointments on our website.

As an Engineering Manager, you will lead a team of three engineers while remaining hands-on with code. You'll build APIs and complex system architectures that support computationally expensive optimizations and continuous optimization functions. You'll develop and mentor your team members, improve our engineering and testing practices, and help scale our systems to meet the demands of our growing company. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who thrives in both technical and leadership capacities and wants to make a high-impact contribution in a fast-paced environment.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading and Developing Your Team:
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of three engineers (two senior and one mid-level), helping them achieve their career goals while holding them—and yourself—to high engineering standards.
  • Develop efficient processes, ensuring the engineering team operates with high velocity, quality, and ownership.
  • Lead with an AI-first mindset, ensuring the team adopts agentic development tools (e.g., Claude, Cline) and sets high code quality and output standards.
• Using Your Technical Chops:
  • Remain hands-on by contributing to code, building APIs, and architecting complex systems that support computationally expensive optimizations and continuous optimization functions.
  • Design and implement scalable system architectures that support our data science applications and operations research tools.
  • Improve our testing practices and frameworks to ensure reliability and maintainability of our systems.
  • Build and maintain monitoring solutions using tools like Datadog and Splunk to ensure system health and performance.
  • Comprehensive understanding of metrics and the ability to review the success of a feature and the health of core systems.
• Being An Awesome Stakeholder:
  • Partner with product and analytics leaders to translate business needs into technical solutions.
  • Support data scientists on the team by providing robust engineering foundations for their models and algorithms.
  • Communicate effectively in both technical and non-technical terms to drive alignment across teams.

What you should have

• BS degree in Computer Science, similar technical field of study or equivalent practical experience
• At least 5 years of software engineering experience, with consistently advancing skills and responsibilities
• Experience or desire to lead a team of engineers and coach them in their careers
• A comprehensive understanding of software craftsmanship ideals - clean code principles, unit testing fundamentals, design pattern selection and application, architectural pattern selection and application
• Strong coding skills with experience in delivering production-ready code; Python preferred, but C# or JavaScript experience also valued
• Experience building APIs and designing scalable system architectures
• Experience in working with data storages (SQL or NoSQL)
• Experience with Kafka or similar streaming platforms
• Experience in contemporary code quality practices: writing unit and integration tests, using test coverage, CI/CD, etc.
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools such as Datadog and Splunk
• Experience utilizing agentic tools such as Claude, Cline, etc.
• Ability to prioritize and manage projects to completion without guidance
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills with the ability to handle diverse situations, multiple projects, and rapidly changing priorities
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills, especially in representing their technical expertise to a diverse audience
• Self-motivated; work well both independently and collaboratively

What we’ll offer in return

• Full-Time Salary Position with a competitive salary.
• Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits.
• 401K with company match.
• A multitude of perks including student loan payments, discounts on vehicles, benefits for your pets, and much more.
• A great wellness program to keep you healthy and happy both physically and mentally.
• Access to opportunities to expand your skill set and share your knowledge with others across the organization.
• A company culture of promotions from within, with a start-up atmosphere allowing for varied and rapid career development.
• A seat in one of the fastest-growing companies in the country.

Other requirements

To be able to do your job at Carvana, there are some basic requirements we want to share with you.

• Must be able to read, write, speak and understand English.

Of course, we’ll make any reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their jobs.

Legal stuff

Hiring is contingent on passing a complete background check. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Carvana is an equal employment opportunity employer. All applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. Carvana also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories.

Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.