Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer, Catal...
@ Instacart

Hybrid
$300,000
Hybrid
Full Time
Posted 23 days ago

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XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX****** @instacart.com
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Job Details

About Instacart

We're transforming the grocery industry by sharing love through food. Instacart delivers essential services with flexible work arrangements, making it a lifeline for millions.

Role Overview

This role is for a highly experienced and visionary Senior Staff or Principal Engineer in the Customers organization. You will lead the evolution and scalability of core Catalog and data-intensive systems, driving machine learning serving infrastructure and real-time ML-driven experiences.

Key Responsibilities

  • Provide architectural leadership for Catalog, streaming, and ML serving systems.
  • Design and scale reliable, efficient, and adaptable solutions.
  • Develop and optimize ML serving endpoints with high performance.
  • Centralize ML serving logic for enhanced debugging and manageability.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams and mentor junior engineers.
  • Drive transformational initiatives affecting revenue, personalization, and performance.

About the Team

Join a dynamic team focused on optimizing the core shopping journey through robust UX, sophisticated algorithms, and personalized recommender systems. Work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

  • Extensive software engineering experience in distributed systems, streaming processing, and data-intensive applications.
  • Proven ability to design and scale ML serving infrastructure.
  • Strong architectural skills and deep understanding of database technologies and data pipelines.
  • Excellent problem-solving, debugging, communication, and collaboration skills.
  • Experience with cloud platforms and ML serving platforms like Sagemaker.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with large-scale catalog systems or similar platforms.
  • Track record in designing high-throughput, low-latency ML serving systems.
  • Contributions to open-source projects or technical publications in related fields.
  • Experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Compensation & Benefits

Instacart offers market-competitive compensation, benefits, and equity awards consistent with a flexible, remote work policy.

Key skills/competency

Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer, Catalog, Real-Time, Distributed Systems, ML Serving, Streaming, Data-intensive, Architecture, Scalability, Cloud

How to Get Hired at Instacart

🎯 Tips for Getting Hired

  • Research Instacart's culture: Review mission, values, and remote work policies.
  • Customize your resume: Highlight distributed systems and ML experience.
  • Prepare technical examples: Showcase scale and optimization projects.
  • Practice communication: Be ready to discuss cross-functional leadership.

📝 Interview Preparation Advice

Technical Preparation

Review distributed systems design fundamentals.
Study streaming platforms like Flink and real-time processing.
Practice ML model serving and scalability techniques.
Brush up on cloud platforms and infrastructure optimization.

Behavioral Questions

Describe a challenging cross-team project.
Explain your leadership in complex situations.
Discuss handling communication during crises.
Share examples of mentoring junior engineers.

Frequently Asked Questions