Staff Software Engineer, Data Governance & Foundations
Instacart · Canada
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- CA$268,000 / year
- Canada
Job highlights
- Lead data lakehouse architecture and governance.
- Drive real-time streaming infrastructure development.
- Pioneer AI-native data infrastructure engineering.
- Elevate engineering excellence and mentor engineers.
- Shape the backbone of Instacart's data platform.
About the role
About Instacart
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
Instacart’s Data Infrastructure organization builds and operates the systems that power our company’s data ecosystem, including a modern open data lakehouse on Apache Iceberg, a multi-engine compute platform for stream and analytical workloads, and self-serve tooling that helps Product, Data Science, ML, Ads, Finance, and engineering teams move fast with data.
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Data Infrastructure to join our Data Governance and Foundations Team. In this role, you’ll serve as a senior technical leader owning the architecture and delivery of our open lakehouse foundation, governance and access patterns, and multi-engine compute strategy—balancing today’s reliability with the next three to five years of scale, maturity, and cost efficiency.
You’ll collaborate closely with engineering leadership and stakeholders across Data Science, ML Platform, Ads Infrastructure, Finance Engineering, Product Engineering, and Security. You’ll operate with a high degree of ownership in a fast-paced environment where architectural decisions have real technical and financial consequences. If you thrive on complex, high-scale challenges and roll-up-your-sleeves execution, this is a chance to shape the backbone of Instacart’s data platform.
Our stack includes technologies such as Apache Iceberg, Apache Flink, Trino, ClickHouse, Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, Snowflake, Databricks, Confluent, Airflow, dbt, Delta Lake, Scala, Python, Postgres, and AWS. You’ll join a focused team of 7 engineers that values pragmatism, clarity, and impact.
About The Job
- Translate Instacart’s data strategy (e.g., monetization, federated access, real-time) into an actionable multi-year architecture roadmap; align with leadership while evolving the platform for scale, maturity, and cost efficiency.
- Own the open lakehouse foundation: define and deliver unified table formats, storage governance, and a multi-engine compute portfolio (interactive, batch, streaming) that enables portability and prevents lock-in.
- Drive real-time and streaming infrastructure for critical use cases (Ads, Fraud, ML): set deployment patterns, SLAs, and operational practices that balance performance, availability, and spend.
- Pioneer AI-native data infrastructure engineering by applying LLM/AI tools to the platform lifecycle—accelerating development, automation, observability, and cost optimization—and partnering to embed AI-powered capabilities into the platform.
- Elevate engineering excellence: lead architecture reviews, mentor senior/staff engineers, influence hiring, and clearly communicate complex trade-offs to both technical and executive audiences to ensure cross-org alignment.
About You
Minimum Qualifications
- 5+ years of software engineering experience building and operating data infrastructure or distributed systems at production scale.
- Hands-on expertise with modern data lakehouse architectures and open table formats (e.g., Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, Hudi) and with distributed query/compute engines (e.g., Trino, Spark, ClickHouse), including performance tuning and production reliability.
- Experience with event-driven and streaming infrastructure (e.g., Kafka, Flink) for real-time pipelines and serving systems.
- Proven ownership of major platform transitions or migrations (build vs. buy, migration design, risk management) delivered to production.
- Ability to build cost/benefit and TCO models for infrastructure investments and to drive alignment via clear architecture docs and strategy memos across multiple teams and leadership levels.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience designing platform-level governance controls and familiarity with compliance frameworks (e.g., SOX, CPRA, GDPR).
- FinOps experience optimizing data platform spend, including managing multi-million dollar infrastructure budgets and negotiating vendor contracts.
- Deep SQL proficiency and strong skills in Python or Scala for systems-level development.
- Experience with orchestration (e.g., Apache Airflow) and data transformation pipelines (e.g., dbt) in large-scale production environments.
- Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Compensation and Benefits
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
$254,000—$268,000 CAD
Key skills/competency
- Data Governance
- Data Infrastructure
- Apache Iceberg
- Apache Flink
- Trino
- Apache Spark
- Kafka
- Python
- Scala
- Cloud Computing
Skills & topics
- Staff Software Engineer
- Data Governance
- Data Infrastructure
- Apache Iceberg
- Apache Flink
- Trino
- Kafka
- Spark
- Python
- Scala
- Distributed Systems
- Data Lakehouse
- Streaming
- Cloud Computing
- AWS
- FinOps
- Remote
- Canada
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience with data lakehouse architectures, distributed systems, and production-scale data infrastructure, using keywords from the job description.
- Showcase ownership: Emphasize your proven track record in leading major platform transitions, migrations, and managing infrastructure investments.
- Demonstrate technical depth: Detail your hands-on expertise with specific technologies like Apache Iceberg, Flink, Trino, Kafka, Spark, Python, and Scala.
- Quantify impact: Use metrics to illustrate the scale of systems you've built and operated, and the cost/benefit analyses you've conducted.
- Prepare for technical discussions: Be ready to discuss complex architectural trade-offs, cost optimization strategies (FinOps), and governance frameworks.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What are the primary responsibilities for a Staff Software Engineer, Data Governance & Foundations at Instacart?
- The primary responsibilities include owning the architecture and delivery of Instacart's open lakehouse foundation, governance and access patterns, and multi-engine compute strategy. This involves translating data strategy into roadmaps, driving real-time and streaming infrastructure, pioneering AI-native data engineering, and elevating engineering excellence through reviews and mentorship.
- What technologies are commonly used in Instacart's Data Infrastructure organization?
- Instacart's Data Infrastructure organization utilizes a modern tech stack including Apache Iceberg, Apache Flink, Trino, ClickHouse, Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, Snowflake, Databricks, Confluent, Airflow, dbt, Delta Lake, Scala, Python, Postgres, and AWS.
- What is Instacart's 'Flex First' policy and how does it affect work arrangements?
- Instacart's 'Flex First' policy offers employees flexibility in choosing where they work—from home, an office, or a coffee shop—while emphasizing connection and community through in-person events. This role is remote.
- What are the minimum qualifications for the Staff Software Engineer role at Instacart?
- Minimum qualifications include 5+ years of experience building and operating production-scale data infrastructure or distributed systems, hands-on expertise with modern data lakehouse architectures and open table formats, experience with event-driven and streaming infrastructure, proven ownership of major platform transitions, and the ability to build cost/benefit models.
- Does Instacart offer equity or bonuses for this Staff Software Engineer position?
- Yes, this role is eligible for a new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants, in addition to highly market-competitive compensation and benefits.
- What are the geographical limitations for this remote Staff Software Engineer role?
- Currently, Instacart is only hiring for this role in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.
- What experience is preferred for the Staff Software Engineer, Data Governance & Foundations role?
- Preferred qualifications include experience with platform-level governance controls, compliance frameworks, FinOps for data platform optimization, deep SQL proficiency, strong Python or Scala skills, and experience with orchestration tools like Airflow and transformation tools like dbt.