At Cox, we’re forward-thinking innovators who put people first. Our award-winning workplace culture is centered on inclusion and kindness, and we’re looking for people to join our mission to be a force for good in the world. Come build a better future with us across automotive, communications, the environment and more.

We want to do everything we can to keep our employees safe and healthy. Therefore, where permitted by applicable law, you will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be considered for this U.S.-based job. Reasonable accommodations for medical and religious objections will of course be considered.

Keep reading to learn more about this opportunity to join the Cox family of businesses.

Hey, we’re all looking for someone to help us be our best.  At Cox Automotive, we’re on a search for a Lead Product Manager to join our successful Inventory Management Solutions (IMS) team in Irvine, CA who will help our team stay on track with flexible, agile roadmaps that evolve as our plans do.  

At Cox Automotive, our engineers and technologists are literally changing the way people buy, sell and use cars.  With operations across five continents and brands like Autotrader and Kelly Blue Book in our family, we have the reach to make this transformation happen in new and exciting ways.  From browsing to test driving, purchasing to servicing, we’re taking charge to create the future of automotive.  We’ve got some of the most robust data in the industry, so our big data insights can lead to some amazing software creations.

And now, we’re building a future that is autonomous, connected, electric, and shared. And you, my friend, could make this a reality.  All while working in an environment that puts collaboration and culture at the forefront of everything we do. 

So, if you’re looking for the right place to deploy your considerable skills, then read on…we’ve got a lot more to share!

Learn more about us  

We Are Cox Automotive

The Connected Cox Automotive Story

Transforming the Auto Industry

Cox Conserves

From the SVP of Product & Engineering

Your Role

The Lead Product Manager role will be responsible for developing, managing, and optimizing one or more large, complex, and/or high revenue Product lines. The role includes but is not limited to contributing to and managing the product roadmap, overseeing the implementation, and working in an agile environment with a cross-functional team to develop products that meet the needs of our consumers and clients. Recognized as an expert within the company and requires in-depth and/or breadth of expertise in Product Management along with other job disciplines within the organization to successfully manage the product. Manages large, complex Product line(s) of strategic importance to the organization due to high growth value, involving large cross-functional teams.

Areas of Focus

Strategy & Discovery – Formulate an in-depth understanding of problems by customer segment and personas and competitive landscape.

Partner with UX research, marketing research, client solutions, and business stokeholds to observe and solicit feedback from consumers and clients.

Planning – Create and maintain product vision and roadmap; create business plans to secure funding; develop go-to-market strategy and value proposition. Illustrate market problems in a way that puts the problem in context Provide relevant, timely, and easily consumable updates to all internal and external audiences.

Create Epics and Features and ensures it aligns across products; manage feature creation, identify business rules and business impact; involve Product Delivery Managers to ensure the delivery team is aligned to features and feature acceptance criteria; collaborate with other product managers to ensure alignment across products; participate in planning and pre/post-planning events (Demos and Inspect/Adapt).

Development – Build an effective relationship and team between Product & Development; Collaborate with Product Delivery Managers, UX architecture and others to execute work including prototyping and testing to validate solutions; make buy/build/partner recommendations to Agile Release Train; collaborate with Architecture, Technology, etc. to develop recommendations, support testing, partner with revenue and business stakeholders to develop pricing strategies and assess ROI.

Client Engagement – Partner with client solutions, product readiness, and marketing teams to articulate the strategies and programs that will generate awareness and leads for the upcoming fiscal period – including measurements and goals.

Evaluation – Assess product performance against KPIs and makes corrections to improve performance; create and deliver thoughtful information to influence key market constituents; make end-of-life recommendations for non-performant products.

How You Succeed

Product Management – Manages the full product lifecycle to ensure that, over time, the needs of customers/users continue to be met and that financial and other benefits are achieved.  Acts as owner/champion for one or more products or services.  Selects, adopts, and adapts appropriate product development methods, tools, and techniques selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.  Analyzes market and/or user research, feedback, expert opinion, and usage data to understand needs and opportunities.  Develops product propositions and determines product positioning and variants for different customer and user segments.  Prioritizes product requirements and owns the product backlog.  Coordinates trials and product launches and supports communications and training.  Anticipates changes in customer/user needs; adapts products and creates product retirement and transition plans.

Requirements & Definition Management – Contributes to the selection of the requirements approach for projects, selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.  Defines and manages to scope requirements definition and prioritization activities for initiatives of medium size and complexity.  Facilitates input from stakeholders, provides constructive challenges, and enables effective prioritization of requirements.  Reviews requirements for errors and omissions.  Establishes the requirement baselines, obtains formal agreement to requirements, and ensures traceability to source.  Investigates, manages, and applies authorized requests for changes to baseline requirements in line with change management policy.

Relationship Management – Identifies the communications and relationship needs of stakeholder groups.  Translates communications/stakeholder engagement strategies into specific activities and deliverables.  Facilitates open communication and discussion between stakeholders, acting as a single point of contact by developing, maintaining, and working to stakeholder engagement strategies and plans.  Provides informed feedback to assess and promote understanding.  Facilitates business decision-making processes.  Captures and disseminates technical and business information.

Innovation – Manages the innovation pipeline and executes innovation processes.  Develops, evolves, and adapts innovation tools, processes, and infrastructures to drive the process of innovation.  Encourages and motivates innovation communities, teams, and individuals to share creative ideas and learn from failures.  Manages and facilitates the communication and open flow of creative ideas between interested parties and the set-up of innovation networks and communities

What’s In It For You?

Really good question and we have some good answers that we hope you like.

We want you to feel cared for and respected (like you do with our customers), and that starts with Cox’s highly competitive pay and other compensation perks (401k + company matching, comprehensive medical benefits, etc.).  We also offer discounted Cox services, tuition reimbursement for academic pursuits, adoption assistance, paid time off to volunteer, childcare and eldercare resources, pet insurance and much more.

Good work should be rewarded, and not just with a healthy paycheck.   And while we may be innovation obsessed, we never forget that we are human-powered. So, it’s our goal to make sure you feel recognized for your contributions.  It’s also important to work alongside colleagues who “get you.”  At Cox, you’ll find a workplace where relationships are crafted with care and successes are celebrated with high fives. We strive to create an environment where you can do you, and everyone from leadership to new hires can support and feel supported.

We know you’re always looking for growth and the opportunity to learn new things. At Cox Automotive, you’ll have all kinds of opportunities to expand your expertise and grow your skills in ways that will challenge and empower you. And in the future, you may have the opportunity to drive innovation in other sectors where the Cox family of brands operates like cleantech, health care, and esports.

You’ll also get to work with a wide range of products and technologies across the Cox Automotive ecosystem, allowing you to have hands-on experience in transforming an industry.  We don’t believe in limitations, only possibilities. Our technological capabilities combined with your wisdom and wizardry will allow us to grow the good and drive incredible innovation.

You’ll work alongside fantastic people who want to see you succeed. We know none of us is as smart as all of us. We strive to bring out the best in everyone, and our dedication to culture means that you’ll be empowered by – and will, in turn, empower – some of the finest colleagues in any industry.

You’ll quite literally have an opportunity to make the world a better place. That may sound like hyperbole, but it’s true. Across the Cox family of businesses, we’ve launched a movement to positively impact 34 million lives by 2034 in areas like technology access and education, social equity, and environmental sustainability through a wide range of company programs, partnerships, and employee volunteer opportunities.

Qualifications:

Who You Are

You’re someone who can harness a wide variety of inputs and is phenomenal at planning, visualizing, and collaborating.   A lifetime learner, you channel your wisdom into others, taking opportunities to mentor whenever you can. 

Where permitted by applicable law, must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be considered for this U.S.-based job.

Reasonable accommodations for medical and religious objections will be considered. 

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or related field is required.

5+ years of experience working in software product development in a product or technology role

What We Look For

Working knowledge for SAFe Agile Methodology.

Experience working cross-functionally with a variety of different domains, including Engineering, Finance, and Business Development.

Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, can be applied across a diverse set of audiences.

Basic understanding of engineering architecture with experience working with engineering teams to deliver products.

Work experience in design, development, and implementation of product plans.

Working experience in full product lifecycle methodologies.

Working experience in creating, prioritizing, and recommending epics and features.

Working experience in conducting competitive research and analysis.

Working experience in identifying KPIs and other analytics to measure product value.

Working experience with executive presentations.

Working experience in working with a collaborative, cross-functional team environment.

Who We Are

About Cox Automotive

There’s nothing ordinary about Cox Automotive. We are people of every background driven by our passion for mobility, innovation, client success and community outreach. We make buying, selling and owning (or simply using) cars easier for everyone. Touching more than 40,000 clients across five continents, we bring together the best brands and the best teams to propel the automotive industry forward. Some of those team members work for our iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, while others are creating the future of automotive at industry-facing brands like Dealer.com, Manheim and vAuto.

About Cox 

We are the Cox family of businesses. We’ve been making our mark since 1898 by building and evolving world-class businesses, staying true to our values, and encouraging top talent to always look for growth and impact while building a career with us.  Our primary divisions – Cox Communications and Cox Automotive – are driving a new wave of innovation, powering smart cities with powerhouse broadband communications and pioneering greener, more progressive transportation alternatives for individuals and fleet operators.  We’re also expanding into new spaces like cleantech and healthcare to rev up our momentum toward building a better future for the next generation.  We’re looking for the talent today who will be our leaders tomorrow. Sound intriguing? Learn more about where we are today, where we hope you’ll be going with us, and the common purpose that unites us at coxenterprises.com.

Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO).  For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page.

Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer – All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual’s age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.  Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship.  

Statement to ALL Third-Party Agencies and Similar Organizations:  Cox accepts resumes only from agencies with which we formally engage their services.   Please do not forward resumes to our applicant tracking system, Cox employees, Cox hiring manager, or send to any Cox facility. Cox is not responsible for any fees or charges associated with unsolicited resumes.