Sr. Strategy & Growth Manager

Cars Commerce•Chicago, IL

1d•Remote

About The Position

Cars Commerce is a $700M+ platform powering U.S. automotive retail, currently at an inflection point under new CEO leadership. The company is reshaping its strategy, product portfolio, and operating model in response to market changes driven by AI, consolidation, and evolving consumer behavior. The Strategy & Growth function is part of the Office of the CEO, offering a small team environment with high autonomy and direct access to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team (ELT). This role involves tackling complex challenges, such as building durable advantage in a market where AI is commoditizing search and restructuring a product portfolio mid-flight while protecting revenue. The ideal candidate will operate with the breadth of a chief of staff and the depth of a senior strategist, running workstreams end-to-end, driving cross-functional execution, and delivering work that shapes the company’s trajectory. This role requires an individual who can build models, write memos, run meetings, and ensure follow-through, without an analyst layer.

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; accountability for outcomes, not just recommendations.
Experience driving cross-functional execution, not just presenting to those who do.
Ability to deliver work products ready for the most senior leaders in the company.
Influence without direct authority through quality of thinking, strength of relationships, and relentless follow-through.
Ability to hold your own with C-suite audiences with confidence.
Ability to build credibility quickly across functions, levels, and personalities.
Exceptional analytical rigor paired with strong business judgment.
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.

Nice To Haves

Technology, marketplace, or subscription model experience is a plus.
Automotive experience is not required.

Responsibilities

Drive forward progress on the CEO’s most critical initiatives, ensuring decisions are made, owners are accountable, and nothing falls through the cracks across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Finance, and Legal.
Assist with building and running the operating cadence, including weekly operating reviews, monthly strategic reviews, and initiative tracking, acting as a system to surface exceptions before they become problems.
Support annual and long-range strategic planning, including market sizing, competitive analysis, and scenario modeling across business units.
Build analytical frameworks and business cases to support resource allocation, pricing, packaging, and go-to-market decisions for the ELT and Board.
Aid with strategic planning coordination by working with BU leaders to develop frameworks, synthesize across the portfolio, and manage the 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, such as marketplace monetization, pricing optimization, customer retention, marketing spend efficiency, and cost structure.
Build the evidence package to track progress, quantify impact, and construct the narrative demonstrating the transformation is working.
Frame trade-offs between near-term execution and long-term positioning to inform leadership decisions.