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InstacartInstacartUnited States

Staff Software Engineer, Shopper Activation & Engagement

Leads technical strategy and architecture for shopper activation domain, including onboarding, compliance, and supply systems. Partners cross-functionally to deliver scalable solutions at marketplace scale, requiring 8+ years backend experience and AI integration skills.

221k – 280k
Remote8+ YOEBackend Engineering

About the role

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.

Minimum Qualifications

  • 8+ 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.

Preferred Qualifications

  • 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.

Skills

GoJavaPythonAWSGCPPostgresDynamoDBRedisAILarge-Scale Distributed Systems
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