Senior Software Engineer

About Carvana

“We believe CVNA is in the early stages of becoming the next U.S. retail category killer.” 

– Stephens Investment Bank, Analyst Report, Sept. 2024

“Growing a capital and labor intensive, industrial type asset at a 40% clip is unchartered territory…”

– JP Morgan Chase, Analyst Report, Jan 2026

Building leading-edge technology has been at the core of Carvana's strategy since our founding, driving us to become the 3rd fastest company in history to organically reach the Fortune 500, following only Amazon and Google. Today, we remain founder-led and as ambitious as ever. In 2024, we emerged as both the fastest-growing and most profitable automotive retailer in the US, thanks to our deep vertical integration across retail, lending, vehicle transportation, wholesale auctions, and more.

Our technology teams build:

• End-to-end ecommerce for buying and selling cars, including everything you see on Carvana.com and in our mobile apps.
• AI-driven customer support across chat, email, SMS, and voice, as well as a proprietary CRM platform built for efficiency and quality at scale.
• 360° vehicle photography and interactive merchandising using cutting-edge computer vision and AI.
• The most sophisticated self-service automotive lending platform in the world; a full fintech stack.
• Systems and tools behind a nationwide logistics network that has delivered and picked up over 3 million cars via our fully owned and operated fleet, reaching 90% of US driveways.
• Enterprise-grade systems for operating the largest vehicle reconditioning facilities in the US, with workflow automation covering everything mechanical, electrical, and cosmetic.
• Early adoption and customization of AI tools to optimize developer efficiency and experience.

And much, much more…

About the team 

Do you have a natural curiosity to build new technologies? Are you the type of person who taught yourself a new Python or C# library just for fun? If so, join a dynamic team of engineers aimed at bringing the latest in web application development to a whole new way of buying a car. We are a fast-paced team that is focused on performance, scalability, and reliability to provide the best experience to our customers, both internal and external. 

As a Software Engineer on our Next Generation Communications Platform (NGCP) team, you’ll design and build microservices that integrate cutting-edge LLMs and AI models, and support ML pipelines for continuous improvement of our AI capabilities. The NGCP team is a passionate and collaborative group of experts in Product, Design, Data Science, and Engineering who are redefining customer experience at Carvana. At the heart of our work is a cutting-edge communication platform that empowers car buyers and sellers to enjoy an effortless car shopping experience every day. We build our systems from the ground up with a relentless focus on the end-consumer, and we’re looking for someone who shares our vision to join our team.

As a key member of the NGCP team, you’ll play an integral role in shaping Sebastian, our interactive chat-bot system, where you’ll work with cutting edge generative AI models in order to provide best-in-class customer service for all our customers. You’ll also contribute to our overarching data and AI strategy, enhancing a suite of ML-driven services that support our customers and advocates. Collaborating closely with our Product, Data Science, and Software Engineering teams, you’ll help transform every stage of the purchase process—from search right through to vehicle delivery.

What you’ll be doing 

• Develop and scale our context services, enhancing the capabilities of our conversational AI, Sebastian.
• Collaborate closely with product managers and key stakeholders to architect and design new APIs and MCPs.
• Drive iterative enhancements to Sebastian, resulting in tangible improvements to the customer experience.
• Leverage the latest foundational models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and LLM frameworks to improve customers' experiences.
• Full software development lifecycle from design and development to testing and operating in production.
• Communicate effectively with engineers and product managers.
• Proactively evolve software engineering practices to take advantage of frontier AI capabilities.

What you should have/know

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, or similar field from an accredited undergraduate institution required.
• 5+ years of software development experience.
• Experience with Python, SQL, Redis, and major cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure).
• Experience in building, debugging and troubleshooting web applications, API integrations, and infrastructure.
• Exceptional analytical ability to translate complex, abstract problems into logical and actionable software solutions.
• Solid fundamentals in algorithms, data structures, and distributed systems.
• Experience using generative AI models from providers like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills for working alongside product managers and other developers.
• Production quality coding standards and patterns.

It would be great if you also have

• Kubernetes and Docker.
• Experience with Claude or other developer AI assistants.
• Experience with CosmosDB or other NoSQL databases.
• Experience using any message queue, such as Kafka or RabbitMQ.
• Experience writing GraphQL interfaced services.
• Experience working with authentication and authorization.
• Familiarity with OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and the PKCE authentication flow.
• Experience integrating native device functionality into browser applications.
• Comfort in setting up and modifying build and release pipelines for CI/CD.
• Proficiency with development tools from the Linux command line.

Don't Meet 100% of the Qualifications?

At Carvana, we value diverse backgrounds and experiences. We encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't fit every single bullet point. Give it a shot—we'd love to hear from you!

What we’ll offer in return

• Full-Time salary position with a competitive salary and Carvana stock compensation.
• 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 focused on high performance and bar-raising, with vast opportunity to learn and grow.

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 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.