Auto finance hiring slows

Auto financiers continue to seek key personnel but the number of open positions has slid in the past year. Overall, financiers are looking to fill nearly 918 positions as of March versus 1,057 during a similar time frame last year, according to an Auto Finance News analysis of job postings on 19 lenders’ websites. Popular job listings include dealer sales managers, strategy analysts and software engineers. For the purpose of this analysis, Carvana ’s 2,210 job postings were excluded because they singlehandedly doubled the open positions at the remaining companies combined, skewing the results. On average, companies that pared back hiring plans were looking to fill 27 fewer positions, whereas those that bolstered recruitment strategies aimed to tack on only six more than last year. Excluding Carvana, Westlake Financial spread the widest hiring net , seeking to fill 252 positions. Even so, Westlake’s hiring goal was down from 279 posted openings last year. Westlake is primarily seeking salespeople — more than 200 area and regional sales managers, floorplan territory managers, strategic dealer managers and dealer account managers. On the West Coast, it is also looking to hire an assistant vice president of sales to lead all sales initiatives across the region, overseeing a team of five regional sales managers and 150 dealer account managers. GM Financial ’s career page touted 117 openings, down from 155 last year, while Toyota Financial Services ’ hiring goal dropped to 64 from 111. At the two captives, the bulk of the open positions are IT-related, primarily for software developers and cybersecurity engineers. Reductions in subprime Subprime lenders Credit Acceptance Corp. and Veros Credit have also reduced their recruitment efforts. The number of open positions on CAC ’s career page fell to 36 from 90 last year, while Veros’ halved to 14 from 29. Both lenders are looking to fill a variety of positions, including salespeople, collection personnel and IT roles. On the flip side, Lendbuzz and American Credit Acceptance have stepped up hiring efforts this year. Most of Lendbuzz’s open positions are for dealership account managers and market development managers in 17 states. And while the company has yet to initiate operations in Tennessee or Nevada, it is scouting dealership account managers in Knoxville, Tenn., and Las Vegas, according to its career page. The company is also searching for a market development manager in Nevada to build a field sales team and forge dealership partnerships. Additionally, Lendbuzz is looking to staff the Engineering Hub it launched in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2025 with product analysts for operations and application lifecycle. Argentina has increasingly become a hotspot for tech professionals with data science, mobile development and programming proficiency because the talent pool, time zones and language skills correlate well with those in the United States. American Credit Acceptance is also hiring on the IT side, with openings for infotech, InfoSec and analytics. Specifically, the lender is seeking engineers to handle cloud platforms, systems operations, network services and security controls. Similarly, at AI-based fintech Upstart , nearly a third of open positions are for engineers focused on origination platform, enterprise security and machine learning simulations. Eyes on social media Several financiers are also looking to fill social media-related positions. CAC, for one, is scouting a social media manager to evolve the company’s organic social media strategy across platforms, as well as a video and AI content creator to develop short-form video content for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and emerging platforms. Capital One Auto is looking to hire a social media strategist with experience in “memorable social media campaigns, building influencer strategies and developing a consistent brand voice across multiple marketing channels and experiences,” while Carvana is searching for a “single-threaded owner of Carvana’s presence across every social media and review platform where customers talk about us — from Instagram and TikTok to Reddit and Consumer Affairs,” according to their job listings. Hiring for growth Among all lenders whose job posts were analyzed, the highest paid job advertised was for head of consumer banking and lending controller at Wells Fargo . The position calls for strategic leadership on accounting, reporting and internal controls and offers a proposed salary in the range of $290,000 to $500,000. As for Carvana, nearly 1,500 of the 2,000 open positions are for jobs in its inspection centers, like mechanics, detailers and airbrush technicians. For instance, Carvana is looking to hire 187 employees in Syracuse, N.Y., on the heels of an announcement last month to bring inspection and reconditioning capabilities to its existing Adesa wholesale auction site there. Notably, the growth at Carvana comes after the company laid off 4,000 employees in 2022 amid a restructuring. Despite tightening in the market, financiers continue to seek sales managers to forge and maintain relationships with auto dealers with the goal of spurring volume. Similarly, the demand for IT executives will expand as lenders pursue opportunities to streamline and refine operations. Auto Finance Summit, the premier industry event for auto lending and leasing, returns October 5-7 at Caesars Las Vegas. To learn more about the 2026 event and register for early-bird pricing through Aug. 21, visit www.AutoFinance.live/AFS .

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