Staff Software Engineer, Core Experience

We're transforming the grocery industry

At Instacart, we invite the world to share love through food because we believe everyone should have access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. Where others see a simple need for grocery delivery, we see exciting complexity and endless opportunity to serve the varied needs of our community. We work to deliver an essential service that customers rely on to get their groceries and household goods, while also offering safe and flexible earnings opportunities to Instacart Personal Shoppers.

Instacart has become a lifeline for millions of people, and we’re building the team to help push our shopping cart forward. If you’re ready to do the best work of your life, come join our table.

Instacart is a Flex First team

There’s no one-size fits all approach to how we do our best work. Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they do their best work—whether it’s from home, an office, or your favorite coffee shop—while staying connected and building community through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible approach to where we work.

Overview

About the Role

As a Staff Engineer, you will play a pivotal role within our Shopping Experience Team, driving engineering initiatives and architectural decisions across multiple teams in Instacart's Online Grocery Pillar. You will engage in hands-on coding to develop core features and services, conduct engineering reviews to ensure high standards, and identify unifying patterns and systems to enhance architectural coherence. Your leadership will facilitate the transition of teams towards a platform-oriented approach, fostering innovation and efficiency. Working closely with cross-functional teams, including machine learning, product, and design, you will establish and drive our technical vision, ensuring alignment on product vision and delivering impactful solutions.

About The Team

Join a dynamic team at the heart of Instacart's success, leading the core shopping experience that millions of users rely on. We are obsessive about perfecting every aspect of the customer shopping journey on the app, encompassing UX formats, feeds, algorithms, personalization, recommender engines, and ranking systems to deliver an exceptional experience. Our team thrives on collaborative problem-solving in a fast-paced environment.

About The Job

• Actively contribute to the rearchitecture of FoodStorm’s platform, focusing on scalability and maintainability through a service-oriented approach.
• Implement high-quality software solutions to enable seamless integration between FoodStorm and Instacart’s systems.
• Conduct hands-on coding, technical problem-solving, and system optimization.
• Collaborate closely with engineers, product managers, and designers across teams to ensure alignment on technical strategy and implementation.
• Partner with the Australia-based engineering team, ensuring effective collaboration during overlapping work hours (~2 hours daily).
• Provide technical mentorship to peers, fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
• Help identify and implement best practices to improve the team’s efficiency and system performance.

About You

• Conduct engineering reviews to ensure high standards across all projects.
• Identify unifying patterns and systems, improving architectural coherence and efficiency.
• Architect and implement service-oriented solutions to address systemic issues.
• Mentor junior engineers, fostering growth and technical excellence.
• Align and partner with cross-functional teams to deliver impactful solutions and drive technical strategy.

Minimum Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior engineering role with a focus on architecture and system design.
• Strong proficiency in coding and ability to engage in complex problem-solving.
• Experience designing and working on systems utilized by more than 30 engineers.
• Ability to lead engineering reviews and provide guidance to team members.
• Exceptional communication skills to influence and drive technical strategy.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science or a related field.
• Experience working alongside machine learning, product, and design teams.
• Previous experience in building scalable, reliable systems in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep understanding of personalization technologies and industry trends.
• A deep understanding of the online grocery or e-commerce sector.

Instacart provides highly market-competitive compensation and benefits in each location where our employees work. This role is remote and the base pay range for a successful candidate is dependent on their permanent work location. Please review our Flex First remote work policy here. Currently, we are only hiring in the following provinces: Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.

Offers may vary based on many factors, such as candidate experience and skills required for the role. Additionally, this role is eligible for a new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants. Please read more about our benefits offerings here.

For Canadian based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below.

CAN

$224,000—$249,000 CAD