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Senior Software Engineer II, AI Labs & Foundations

Instacart
Location
United States - Remote
Posted
18 days ago
Department
Infrastructure
What they actually want (must-haves)
  • Proven senior software engineer with experience building, shipping, and operating production systems at scale
  • Hands-on experience with AI or ML in production, including shipping LLM-powered features or integrating foundation model APIs
  • Experience owning services end-to-end, including CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and on-call participation
  • Strong communication skills and ability to partner across disciplines
  • Experience with Golang, Python, or Typescript
  • Ability to leverage cutting-edge development tools to maximize velocity
Nice to have
  • 5 to 8+ years of industry experience
  • Track record of 0-to-1 work taking unconventional ideas from prototype to production
  • Experience building conversational agents or multi-turn dialogue systems
  • Experience with STT/TTS or natural language interfaces, LLM fine tuning, and ML transfer learning
  • Experience with embedding systems, vector search, or retrieval-augmented generation
What the job really is

As a Senior Software Engineer II in AI Labs & Foundations at Instacart, you will design, build, and operate high-scale production AI systems that enhance grocery shopping experiences for millions of customers. Your role will involve collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop AI-native products, integrating foundational models, and driving engineering excellence through rigorous testing and observability. This position emphasizes hands-on experience with AI/ML, ownership of projects, and the ability to navigate ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.

Benefits
  • Highly market-competitive compensation
  • Eligible for new hire equity grant and annual refresh grants
  • Flex First remote work policy
Things to weigh
  • No specific details on the company's tech stack beyond AI/ML
  • Base pay varies significantly by location, which may affect salary expectations
  • Remote work flexibility may not suit everyone's work style
Job score3.2/5
Benefits2/5
Freshness4/5
Career value5/5
Role clarity5/5
Pay transparency0/5

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