Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Instacart

• Are you excited about applying cutting-edge AI / ML models and technologies to complex real-world problems
• Are you inspired to deliver tangible, quantifiable impact to tens of millions of users and partners, while solving some of the toughest optimization challenges in a 4-sided marketplace
• Are you passionate about mentoring and growing ML engineering talent, while instilling and fostering a principled engineering culture
• If so, we have a job for you
• PhD in AI / ML or related field, or equivalent academic and research experience
• 15+ years of experience as a software and / or ML engineer
• Proven track record of architecting & building production-grade ML systems, AI and quantitative optimization technologies at a global scale
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical discussions and collaborate effectively at senior to executive levels, driving consensus and clarity
• Experience mentoring and developing engineering culture and talent

Desirable

• The Ads Engineering team is looking for a seasoned ML engineering leader to act as the Area Tech Lead of Ads Quality, working alongside Ads Software Engineering leaders
• In this role, you will directly contribute to the company’s myriad of AI, ML, and Quality innovations, both as an Individual Contributor and Technical Lead
• You will lead the team to design next-generation, AI-powered solutions to support the business’ broadening growth
• You will partner with Eng and PM leadership to prioritize and support all product needs
• You will develop company-defining collaborations with other engineering pillars across Instacart
• You will grow and mentor engineers, and contribute to shaping engineering culture not only for Ads but for all of Instacart
• Develop & design innovative AI-powered systems addressing a wide range of Ads Quality challenges, such as: Optimize ads bidding, retrieval and auction processes toward a diverse set of advertiser goals, balancing short- and long-term objectives,
• Balance between user, advertiser, and retailer needs, and turn such solutions into quantifiable, optimizable formulations,
• Identify and build gen AI solutions to revolutionize all aspects of the quality stack,
• Build advanced generative AI and recommendation frameworks revolutionizing advertiser experience and campaign efficacy,
• Construct systems and frameworks to provide intelligent recommendations and assistance to advertisers,
• Collaborate with Data Scientists to establish metrics and methodologies for both tracking, optimization, and goaling purposes
• Define & own the Ads Quality technical strategy and roadmap, balancing between both short-term needs and long-term sustainability
• Demonstrates ability to architect and design complex AI / quality components, considering scalability, reliability, performance, and security
• Serves as a technical leader and mentor, guiding and empowering junior ML and software engineers through code and design reviews, knowledge sharing, collaborative problem-solving, improving key engineering processes, and fostering a thriving engineering culture
• Serve as a technical mentor, empowering engineers at all career levels through effective coaching, collaborative code reviews and knowledge sharing to develop the next set of leaders
• Builds and maintains synergies with other ML engineering teams across Instacart; acts as a bridge representing Ads as an influential voice in company-wide technical forums
• Contributes to company-level technical initiatives as a thought leader and key driver of Instacart’s engineering vision & goals
• Note this is a hands-on IC / TL role at the Director+ level. There are no people management expectations