Sr. Strategy & Growth Manager

Cars Commerce•Chicago, IL

23h•Remote

About The Position

Cars Commerce is a $700M+ platform powering U.S. automotive retail. Under new CEO leadership, the company is at an inflection point - reshaping its strategy, product portfolio, and operating model in a market being reshaped by AI, consolidation, and shifting consumer behavior. The Strategy & Growth function sits within the Office of the CEO, offering a small team with high autonomy and direct CEO and ELT access. This role requires a senior individual who operates with the breadth of a chief of staff and the depth of a senior strategist. You will run workstreams end-to-end, drive cross-functional execution, and deliver work that shapes the company’s trajectory. This role does not have an analyst layer; you will build the model, write the memo, run the meeting, and follow through.

Requirements

8-10 years total experience, including 2-4 years at a top-tier firm: strategy consulting (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, LEK, Oliver Wyman, Kearney, EY-Parthenon, Strategy&), investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lazard, Evercore, Centerview), PE portfolio ops (KKR Capstone, Bain Capital, Apollo), or corporate strategy at a public company.
Demonstrated ability to operate, not just advise. You’ve been accountable for outcomes, not just recommendations.
Ideally you have experience driving cross-functional execution, not just presenting to those who do.
Deliver work products ready for the most senior leaders in the company.
Influence without direct authority: outcomes through quality of thinking, strength of relationships, and relentless follow-through.
Hold your own with C-suite audiences, with confidence, not arrogance. You build credibility quickly across functions, levels, and personalities.
Exceptional analytical rigor paired with strong business judgment. You know when the model matters and when the conversation matters more.
Operator mentality: default to action, follow through relentlessly, comfortable with ambiguity and context-switching.
Intellectually curious with a strong point of view.
Drawn to hard problems: AI disruption, marketplace dynamics, competitive positioning in commoditizing industries.
Technology, marketplace, or subscription model experience is a plus.
Automotive not required.

Responsibilities

Drive forward progress on the CEO’s most critical initiatives - ensure decisions get made, owners are accountable, nothing falls through the cracks across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Finance, and Legal.
Assist with building and running the operating cadence: weekly operating reviews, monthly strategic reviews, initiative tracking. You are the system that surfaces exceptions before they become problems.
Help annual and long-range strategic planning: market sizing, competitive analysis, scenario modeling across business units.
Build analytical frameworks and business cases underpinning resource allocation, pricing, packaging, and GTM decisions for ELT and Board.
Aid with strategic planning coordination - work with BU leaders to develop frameworks, synthesize across the portfolio, manage cadence of readouts and decisions.
Help prepare Board pre-reads, investor narratives, and decision memos that directly inform Board-level conversations.
Drive execution on near-term growth and efficiency levers: marketplace monetization, pricing optimization, customer retention, marketing spend efficiency, cost structure.
Build the evidence package - track progress, quantify impact, construct the narrative that demonstrates the transformation is working.
Frame trade-offs between near-term execution and long-term positioning to inform leadership decisions.