Principal Data Scientist

Who we are

At CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG), our mission is to give people the power to reach their destination. We started as a small team of developers determined to bring trust and transparency to car shopping. Since then, our history of innovation and go-to-market acceleration has driven industry-leading growth. In fact, we’re the largest and fastest-growing automotive marketplace, and we’ve been profitable for over 15 years.

What we do

The market is evolving, and we are too, moving the entire automotive journey online and guiding our customers through every step. That includes everything from the sale of an old car to the financing, purchase, and delivery of a new one. Today, tens of millions of consumers visit CarGurus.com each month, and 30,000 dealerships use our products. But they're not the only ones who love CarGurus—our employees do, too. We have a people-first culture that fosters kindness, collaboration, and innovation, and empowers our Gurus with tools to fuel their career growth. Disrupting a trillion-dollar industry requires fresh and diverse perspectives. Come join us for the ride!

Role overview

As a core member of the Data Science team, the Principal Data Scientist will lead the design and development of high-impact machine learning systems that power CarGurus’ core products and strategic initiatives. You will own models and data pipelines end-to-end from problem framing and experimentation through production deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvements. Potential areas of support and ownership include Recommendations, Search Ranking, Instant Market Value algorithms, and new ML-driven product capabilities.

What you'll do

• Own the end‑to‑end design and implementation of production ML models and systems, including model architecture, feature strategy, and evaluation methodology.

• In partnership with Data and Analytics teams, develop and maintain data pipelines to supply training and inference data for models, using SQL and Snowflake.

• Collaborate with engineering leaders on system and API design to ensure ML solutions meet requirements for latency, reliability, observability, and maintainability in production.

• Apply best practices for experimentation and model evaluation, including offline metrics, A/B testing design, and post‑launch analysis; coach other data scientists in applying these practices rigorously.

• Communicate solutions to stakeholders through written documentation, demos and presentations, and data visualizations tailored to both technical and non‑technical audiences.

What you'll bring

• 7+ years of experience in Data Science or Machine Learning roles, with a consistent track record of shipping, owning, and iteratively improving production ML systems that drive material business impact.

• Deep expertise in Machine Learning techniques for supervised and unsupervised learning across structured and unstructured datasets. Comprehensive knowledge of, and real-world experience with, measurement, evaluation, and testing of models.

• Proven experience deploying and maintaining machine learning services in production, ideally in a cloud environment (e.g. AWS, SageMaker, Snowflake).

• High proficiency in Python (or a similar languages widely used in the data science community) and SQL, plus experience establishing coding, testing, and reproducibility standards (e.g., shared libraries, experiment tracking, templates).

• Ability to communicate technical details, trade‑offs, and analytical findings to audiences ranging from engineers to senior business leaders, using clear narratives and data‑driven recommendations.

• Advanced degree (or proven experience) in Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, or any quantitative science which makes use of advanced data analytics or statistical or machine learning techniques

The displayed range represents the expected annual base salary / On-Target Earnings (OTE) for this position. On-Target Earnings (OTE) is inclusive of base salary and on-target commission earnings, which applies exclusively to sales roles.

Individual pay within this range is determined by work location and other factors such as job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

This annual base salary forms part of a comprehensive Total Rewards Package. In addition to benefits, this role may qualify for discretionary bonuses/incentives and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).

Position Pay Range

$170,000—$212,000 USD

Working at CarGurus

We reward our Gurus’ curiosity and passion with best-in-class benefits and compensation, including equity for all employees, both when they start and as they continue to grow with us. Our career development and corporate giving programs, as well as our employee resource groups (ERGs) and communities, help people build connections while making an impact in personally meaningful ways. A flexible hybrid model and robust time off policies encourage work-life balance and individual well-being. Thoughtful perk