Senior Software Engineer II, Logistic Foundation

Instacart is transforming the grocery industry by providing essential services that customers rely on for their grocery and household needs. They are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to lead high-visibility platform initiatives, collaborating with cross-functional partners to deliver resilient systems and improve logistics capabilities. The role involves driving complex platform workstreams, designing and operating backend services, and contributing to critical fulfillment domains.

Responsibilities:

• Own and drive complex platform workstreams end-to-end — from engineering design docs through implementation, launch coordination, war room monitoring, and ongoing support
• Design, build, and operate high-quality, high-throughput distributed backend services with clear SLOs, robust observability, and well-run on-call/incident response practices
• Analyze and refine service and data architectures; propose and lead new systems that improve reliability, scalability, and operational excellence
• Establish and champion engineering standards through rigorous design reviews, production readiness, on-call ownership, and continuous improvement of instrumentation and alerting
• Partner with Legal, Finance, and Policy to deliver compliance-ready solutions across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory frameworks, balancing urgency with long-term maintainability
• Drive the adoption of modern technologies and AI toolsets to accelerate development, improve quality, and increase delivery velocity; mentor peers and influence platform roadmaps
• Contribute across critical fulfillment domains — earnings, pricing, routing, batching, matching, dispatch, and geospatial — delivering solutions that directly impact customers, shoppers, and partners

Requirements:

• 7+ years of backend software development experience delivering scalable, production systems end-to-end
• Proficiency in at least one backend language such as Ruby, Python, or Go
• Hands-on experience building and operating large-scale distributed backend services with defined SLOs, on-call ownership, observability, and incident response
• Proven track record independently leading complex, cross-functional projects with high ambiguity and hard external deadlines
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including authoring technical artifacts (e.g., ERDs, design docs) and coordinating launches with non-engineering stakeholders
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Experience with compliance-sensitive systems (e.g., pay systems, SOX, GDPR, government policy/labor regulations)
• Technical experience with Ruby on Rails, Python, Golang, Postgres, Redis, and AWS
• Experience with geospatial systems, mapping, or multi-jurisdiction rule engines
• Familiarity with marketplace or logistics domain problems
• Proficiency in system performance optimization, including CPU utilization, load balancing, and latency reduction
• Experience collaborating across teams to advocate for and land platform-wide solutions
• Skilled at leveraging AI to enhance engineering velocity and efficiency