Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Instacart
Content AI/Recommendations
$149-199k
Salary range dependent on candidate location. Plus new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants
Online grocery marketplace & grocery tech platform
Posted today
Online grocery marketplace & grocery tech platform
1001+ employees
Posted today
$149-199k
Salary range dependent on candidate location. Plus new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants
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
- Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in AI / Machine Learning, or 3+ years of industry experience in machine learning
- Strong engineering skills with expertise in R or Python and fluency in data manipulation (SQL, Pandas) and machine learning (scikit-learn, XGBoost, Keras/Tensorflow) tools
- Strong analytical skills and a proven ability to deploy ML models in production environments with tangible business impact
- Self-motivation and a strong sense of ownership
Desirable
- Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in AI / Machine Learning with 5+ years of industry experience applying machine learning to real-world, large-scale datasets
- Expertise in deep learning frameworks, generative AI, or LLMs
- Specialized knowledge in personalization, recommendation systems, learning-to-rank or NLP technologies
- Nice to have: Experience with training large-scale models and model deployment on cloud services (Docker, AWS/GCP/Azure)
What the job involves
- We are looking for experienced Senior Machine Learning Engineers to solve challenging problems like enhancing real-time recommendation algorithms, designing feed ranking systems, and improving personalized discovery
- Your work will directly impact initiatives such as replacement recommendations, contextual discovery suggestions, and home feed ranking, driving meaningful improvements in our customer experience
- You will be designing, developing, testing, and deploying machine learning models focused on recommendations and ranking
- You will build scalable ML services to facilitate the deployment of models at a large scale
- You will take ownership of the entire development lifecycle of machine learning solutions, from ideation and design to deployment and maintenance, ensuring delivery with speed and efficiency
- You will stay at the forefront of machine learning advances, including generative AI, LLMs, and innovative recommendation technologies
- You will collaborate with software engineers and product managers to define and influence features that address customer challenges
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 900 retail banners across more than 75,000 locations.
Instacart's software offerings signify the company's focus on tech, designed to move it away from its dependence on the gig economy. To this end, the company has acquired FoodStorm, an order management system that powers end-to-end order-ahead and catering, integrating its technology into its enterprise suite. Despite an IPO in September 2023, market downturns have necessitated a 7% workforce cut in 2024, focused on middle management and creating a flatter organisational structure. With a new streamlined workforce, here's to hoping Instacart can maintain its momentum.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 14 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 values
- Go far together
- Roll up your sleeves
- Grow the pie
- Put it all on the table
- Serve generously
Company HQ
The East Cut, San Francisco, CA
Articles
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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