Senior Software Engineer, Instacart
Technical Search Visibility
$166-210k
Actual salary range is dependent on location. Offers equity
Online grocery marketplace and grocery tech platform
Be an early applicant
Online grocery marketplace and grocery tech platform
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$166-210k
Actual salary range is dependent on location. Offers equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
To create a world where everyone has access to the food they love and have more time to enjoy it together.
Role
Who you are
- 5–8 years of software engineering experience with expert-level proficiency in React, Ruby, Python, PostgreSQL, and SQL
- Proven track record of leading complete projects end-to-end, including architecture design, implementation, experimentation, and production rollout
- Strong experience with distributed systems and data engineering — designing pipelines, optimizing schemas, and ensuring data quality — with experience in Airflow or DBT
- Demonstrated ability to design for performance, scalability, and robustness, with experience implementing comprehensive observability solutions (logging, metrics, tracing)
- Strong product thinking with the ability to influence product direction and make strategic trade-offs balancing technical and business considerations
- Excellent communication skills with a proven ability to mentor engineers, drive cross-team alignment, and translate technical concepts for diverse stakeholders
Desirable
- Direct experience with SEO/AEO initiatives or deep understanding of SEO best practices, answer engine optimization for LLMs, structured data (Schema.org), search engine crawling/indexing, and Core Web Vitals
- Understanding of how AI-powered search engines and LLMs consume and surface content, with experience optimizing for AI answer generation
- Experience with big data technologies (Apache Spark, Airflow, Hadoop), NoSQL databases, and data warehousing platforms (Snowflake, Redshift)
- Track record managing technical debt strategically and leading system modernization efforts
- Experience with cloud cost optimization and A/B testing frameworks for measuring SEO/AEO impact
- Previous experience partnering with marketing teams on growth initiatives in fast-paced startup environments
What the job involves
- The Marketing Enablement & Technology (MET) team sits within Instacart's Marketing organization, building the systems, data pipelines, and platforms powering Instacart's growth
- Operating at the intersection of Marketing, Product, and Engineering, we own the platforms behind campaign feeds, audience targeting, event pipelines, and QA automation
- We're seeking a Senior Software Engineer for the Technical Search Visibility pod to lead initiatives that enhance Instacart's search engine visibility and drive organic traffic — one of our most substantial growth levers
- You'll design scalable systems improving SEO performance across millions of web pages, architect robust data pipelines, and work across the full stack to ensure our platform is discoverable by millions of users
- You'll lead projects end-to-end, drive technical direction, mentor engineers, and partner closely with Marketing and Product leadership to shape technical and product strategy
- Lead complete SEO and AEO projects independently, defining experimentation, development, and rollout strategies across multiple systems with minimal guidance
- Design, build, and ship high-quality full-stack features that enhance search engine visibility, AI answer engine performance, and organic traffic with urgency, efficiency, and ownership
- Architect scalable, robust solutions applying deep technical knowledge to optimize for traditional search rankings, LLM visibility, user experience, performance, and cost efficiency
- Design and maintain efficient data pipelines for SEO and AEO data ingestion, transformation, and delivery, while identifying and solving root problems in search visibility through reusable abstractions
- Partner directly with Marketing and Product stakeholders to influence features and requirements, making well-reasoned trade-offs between complexity, business value, and delivery timelines, while mentoring junior engineers and driving team productivity
Our take
Instacart is an online grocery marketplace that operates a pick-up and delivery system in the US and Canada. Unlike standard grocery shopping, Instacart sends a “personal shopper” to your local store to buy your products, who then delivers them straight to your door on the same day via their own car. The company also supplies the Instacart Platform, with services for stores encompassing eCommerce, fulfilment, in-store, ads, and insights.
The increased modernization of society has meant more than ever that consumers are looking to buy their groceries online, making space for apps like Instacart to become daily life staples for years to come. Although the company must compete with other grocery store delivery services, such as Walmart’s own, it has expanded to cover large percentages of US and Canadian households, and is now aligned with over 1,500 retail banners across more than 85,000 locations.
With an expanding partnership with Kroger, Instacart continues to demonstrate why it's a leader in the gorcery delivery space. By powering fast, reliable delivery from neary 2,700 stores and introducing tools like the AI-powered Cart Assistant, Instacart isn't just enhanceing the way millions of families shop but also shaping the future of personalized, convenient grodery expericnes. This deepening collaboration underscores Instacart's ability to drive growth and deliver value to both customers and partners.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
7% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 15 rounds)
Nov 2021
$232m
LATE VC
Mar 2021
$265m
LATE VC
Total funding: $2.9bn
Company benefits
- Wellness Tailored to You: Medical, dental, vision, retirement, life & disability coverage right alongside physical & mental wellness programs, memberships and stipends to keep you and your family feeling your best.
- Family Building Benefits: No matter where you are in your family journey, we support you. Our plans cover modern family planning for all. We offer leave for all parents, flexible working schedules and an active Parents@ community.
- Work From Home Stipend: We help outfit your WFH setup and offer reimbursements so you can be your most productive while at home.
- Flexible Time Off: We all recharge differently. Take the time you need with our flexible time off policy and company-wide Self-Checkouts where we encourage everyone to sign off.
- Learning & Development: Whether you're just starting your career or leading teams, we provide customized L&D programs to help you grow and an annual allowance to pursue your development.
- Future Planning: We have you covered as you plan for your future. 401(k) matching in the US and RRSP in Canada, student loan assistance through Peanut Butter, free Rocket Lawyer membership, SoFi & First Republic financial planning and more.
- Four Year Fill-Up: We encourage our tenured employees to take longer breaks and truly unplug by doing something they love – typically four consecutive weeks around the four year mark.
- Community Connection: Support the communities you care about with volunteer weeks and get involved with our social impact program, Instacart Serves.
- Instacart Express Membership: We help keep your fridge stocked. Unlock grocery discounts with our Instacart Beta app while testing our latest features.
Company HQ
The East Cut, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Apoorva Mehta
(Co-Founder & Chairman)Studied Electrical Engineering at University of Waterloo. Worked in Fulfillment Optimisation SDE at Amazon.com before going on to co-found Instacart.
Brandon Leonardo
(Co-Founder)Interned at Cisco Systems as an IT Engineer. Later became a Senior Web Developer at Webs and then a Venture Hacker at Angel List.
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