Senior Software Engineer, Instacart
Marketing Enablement & Technology
$162-217k
Salary dependent on location + Equity
Online grocery marketplace and grocery tech platform
Open for applications
Online grocery marketplace and grocery tech platform
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$162-217k
Salary dependent on location + 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 Python for building scalable backend services, APIs, and data pipelines
- Proven track record of leading complete projects end-to-end, including architecture design, implementation, experimentation, and production rollout
- Deep expertise with data integration technologies (Snowflake, SQL, ETL processes) and workflow orchestration tools (Airflow, DBT)
- Demonstrated ability to design for performance, scalability, and robustness, with experience implementing comprehensive observability solutions (logging, metrics, tracing)
- Strong product thinking with ability to research problems deeply, influence product direction, and make strategic trade-offs balancing technical and business considerations
- Excellent communication skills with proven ability to mentor engineers, drive cross-team alignment, and translate technical concepts for diverse stakeholders
Desirable
- Experience architecting and implementing automation frameworks and reusable abstractions that improve team productivity and system extensibility
- Advanced knowledge of ad platform APIs (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Snapchat Ads) and conversion tracking mechanisms at scale
- Deep understanding of digital marketing operations and performance marketing KPIs (ROAS, LTV, CAC, CPA) with ability to identify technical opportunities that drive business impact
- Experience with cloud cost optimization, chaos engineering, and disaster recovery planning
- Track record of managing technical debt strategically and leading legacy system modernization efforts
- Experience with security-by-design principles and leading incident response for production systems
- Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools for significant productivity improvements and contribute to AI-assisted development infrastructure
What the job involves
- The Marketing Enablement & Technology (MET) team sits within Instacart's Marketing organization, building the systems, APIs, and data pipelines powering Instacart's Paid Marketing channels—one of our most substantial growth levers
- 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 Paid MarTech pod to architect and scale backend services and ETL processes enabling marketing campaign execution, conversion tracking, and third-party integrations across Paid Social, Display, SEM, Online Video, Linear Television, and Streaming Audio
- You'll lead projects end-to-end, drive technical direction, mentor engineers, and partner closely with Marketing, Operations, and Product leadership to shape technical and product strategy
- Lead complete projects independently across backend services, APIs, and data pipelines, defining experimentation, development, and rollout strategies across multiple systems with minimal guidance
- Architect scalable, robust solutions for performance, reliability, and cost efficiency, applying deep technical knowledge to design systems that handle high-throughput marketing operations
- Drive technical improvements by identifying and solving deeper underlying problems, designing appropriate abstractions to simplify complexity and promote reusability across the codebase
- Partner directly with Marketing and Product stakeholders to influence features and requirements, bringing strong technical perspective while making well-reasoned trade-offs between complexity, business value, and delivery timelines
- Mentor junior engineers through code reviews, technical guidance, and onboarding support, while contributing to team productivity through process improvements and automation
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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