Machine Learning Engineer - Search ML
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
Join Instacart’s mission to revolutionize the grocery industry through cutting-edge technologies. As a Machine Learning Engineer focused on search, you will help create seamless shopping experiences by leveraging advanced machine learning techniques to improve search relevance and discovery on Instacart's platform. This is an exciting opportunity to work on meaningful challenges at the intersection of AI and e-commerce, directly impacting how millions of users interact with the platform daily.
About the Role
We are seeking a highly motivated Machine Learning Engineer to join our Search ML team. In this role, you’ll work alongside world-class engineers, data scientists, and product managers to shape the future of search technology at Instacart. You will collaborate on building models that enhance search relevance, ranking, and personalization, delivering highly relevant results to users across the Instacart ecosystem. This is a role where your contributions will not only drive immediate impact but also present exciting opportunities to showcase your work through publications and conferences (recent publications 1, 2, 3).
About the Team
The Machine Learning team at Instacart is a dynamic and collaborative group dedicated to advancing the role of AI across the platform. As part of the Search ML team, you'll work on one of the most critical aspects of the business, helping customers connect with the right products. We are passionate about solving large-scale search challenges and creating innovative solutions that elevate the customer experience. Our team thrives in a fast-paced environment where we constantly experiment, iterate, and improve.
About the Job
- Develop and optimize machine learning models to enhance search relevance, ranking, and personalization for millions of users
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including data scientists and engineers, to build scalable and efficient search solutions
- Work on real-time search systems, improving the discoverability of products across multiple retailers
- Contribute to research and thought leadership, with opportunities to publish papers in leading AI and ML conferences
- Take ownership of your projects, from research and prototyping to production deployment, in a fast-paced environment
About You
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related fields
- Strong programming skills in Python and fluency in data manipulation (SQL, Spark, Pandas) and machine learning (Pytorch, Tensorflow) tools
- Strong analytical skills and problem-solving ability
- Strong communicator who can collaborate with diverse stakeholders across all levels
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 3+ years of experience building and deploying machine learning models in production environments
- PhD in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields
- Previous experience working on search or recommendation systems at scale
- Strong publication track record in top-tier AI/ML conferences
- Familiarity with A/B testing and experimentation methodologies for search relevance improvement
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.
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.