Sr Operations Engineer Jobs in Illinois (NOW HIRING)

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 Challenge and 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. We are proud to be named one of Built In's 2026 Best Places to Work in Chicago and across the U.S. Ready to make your mark? Join a team that's driving real change in the automotive industry.
About the Role [Remote and must be located in the Chicago area. May require onsite interviews]
Join us in shaping the future of Automotive Commerce. Cars Commerce builds a single platform that simplifies buying and selling cars for dealerships, manufacturers, and consumers.
Our Websites Engineering Team drives the Dealer Inspire platform, and we're modernizing our backend services and tooling with a comprehensive technical strategy to build scalable systems. As a DevOps Engineer (Sr. Software Engineer), you'll help revitalize how we deliver software - leading projects, raising operational standards, and building the systems our customers depend on.
This role sits within the Dealer Inspire Websites DevOps team and works closely with the broader Website Engineering and Cloud Engineering teams at Cars Commerce.
About You
You're an experienced DevOps engineer You've built CI/CD systems people actually trust. You think in infrastructure-as-code and treat manual changes as a last resort, not a habit. You're the person who notices when a dashboard is missing before an incident happens, not after. You can zoom out to set standards for a team and zoom in to fix the one flaky deploy step that's been bugging everyone. Above all, you care about operational maturity - not for its own sake, but because it's how teams move fast without breaking things.
Why You'll Be Excited About This Role
This opportunity enables you to be...

• Own CI/CD : Design and implement pipelines that automate build, test, and deployment - and keep getting better.
• Own Infrastructure : Provision, configure, and manage infrastructure as code on AWS.
• Sharpen the Toolkit : Evaluate and maintain the tools that shape how the team ships - version control, containerization, configuration management.
• Build Visibility : Stand up monitoring, dashboards, and alerting so problems get caught before they become incidents.
• Bake in Security : Integrate security best practices into development and deployment as a default, not an afterthought.
• Collaborate Across Teams : Work with developers, security engineers, and IT operations to keep DevOps a shared practice, not a silo.
• Solve Hard Problems: Troubleshoot complex issues and land solutions that make the delivery process better going forward.
• Prioritize with Judgment: Break down and manage work - yours and sometimes the team's - against what matters most, and connect it back to company goals.
• Use AI Responsibly: Champion AI tool adoption to boost velocity, with the depth to vet and own what it produces.
• Deliver for Stakeholders: Partner on requirements and prioritization, and see the work through to completion.
• Raise the Bar: Establish and document the standards that build operational maturity across the team and org.
• Keep Things Running: Plan and execute routine maintenance and auditing, and take your turn in the on-call rotation.
• You'll also be an ambassador of Cars.com's Core Values: Challenge & Collaborate; Start with the Consumer; Be Bold; Build Relationships; Deliver Results; Focus on the Outcome; Stay Open.

We're Excited About You Because...

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent professional experience.
• 5+ years of combined developer and DevOps/SRE experience in CI/CD, scripting, and automation, including work in a cloud-native (AWS) environment.
• Strong grasp of DevOps principles and methodologies - CI/CD, IaC, Agile.
• Programming experience in several languages, such as Node.js, Elixir, Go, Java, Python, Ruby, or SQL.
• Proficiency in scripting (Python, Bash) and DevOps tooling (Git, Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with cloud platforms - AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Hands-on experience with AWS infrastructure services (e.g., EKS, OpenSearch, S3, RDS, API Gateway, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Route 53, VPC).
• Experience with container orchestration (Docker/Kubernetes), especially within CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with modern monitoring tools (CloudWatch, Datadog) and establishing metrics, alerting, and dashboards.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfort with ambiguity - able to help shape solutions and prioritize deliverables in line with company vision.

Bonus....

• Experience implementing CI/CD, monitoring, and related tooling for high-traffic (millions of daily visits) applications on AWS.
• A track record of delivering results for large-scale systems.
• Strong mentoring skills and a knack for being a force multiplier - sharing knowledge and leveling up the team around you.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional).

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
$118,600.00-148,250.00
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.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Applicants: Click here to review our Privacy Policy for Applicants. For current employees, please click here to review our California Privacy Policy for Employees.