Staff Software Engineer, Shopper Activation & Engagement

Instacart is transforming the grocery industry by providing essential services for grocery delivery. They are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the technical strategy for shopper activation, focusing on onboarding, compliance, and operational excellence.

Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the end-to-end technical strategy and architecture for the activation domain, enabling rapid, safe delivery as the roadmap scales to support millions of shoppers
• Lead product strategy in partnership with Product and Design across onboarding funnel optimization, waitlist management, incentives, and supply levers; set clear OKRs, instrumentation, and experimentation plans
• Own delivery of business-critical compliance and vendor initiatives (e.g., background checks, identity/eligibility workflows), building auditable, privacy-first systems with strong observability and SLAs
• Run large, cross-functional programs across multiple engineering and business teams; translate ambiguous requirements into crisp technical plans, manage risk and dependencies, and unblock execution
• Mentor and develop engineers through design reviews, high-quality code practices, and clear technical standards; raise the technical bar and cultivate the next generation of technical leaders
• Continuously improve reliability, performance, and cost efficiency of services; establish and enforce SLOs, drive incident learnings, and champion secure-by-default, AI-augmented development workflows

Requirements:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems, high-traffic services, or mobile backends
• 3+ years owning end-to-end architecture and technical strategy for a domain or product area, from design through production operations
• Proven track record leading cross-functional initiatives across 3+ teams and delivering under hard deadlines in ambiguous problem spaces
• Proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Java, Python) and with modern cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS or GCP) and data stores (e.g., Postgres, DynamoDB, Redis)
• Hands-on experience building AI tooling or agentic automation and integrating AI into developer workflows or product features
• Experience designing compliant systems involving identity, eligibility, certifications, or similarly sensitive workflows, with privacy and security best practices
• Demonstrated mentorship and team development experience, including leveling up engineers through design guidance and rigorous code reviews
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Experience partnering with Legal/Policy on compliance-related projects and navigating evolving labor or regulatory requirements; familiarity with audit trails and policy engines
• Background in evaluating, integrating, and managing third-party vendors; establishing technical SLAs; and executing zero-downtime migrations and fallback strategies
• Experience with experimentation platforms, analytics, and growth funnels to improve conversion, supply availability, and utilization
• Experience building mobile-first products or collaborating closely with iOS/Android teams on shopper experiences
• Familiarity with trust & safety, fraud/identity, or background screening systems in high-scale marketplaces
• Experience in marketplace, logistics, rideshare, or gig-economy environments