Senior Engineering Manager, Core Picking

Overview

The Fulfillment Services team at Instacart is at the heart of building the picking technology platform that powers the fulfillment needs of the world's largest retailers and millions of customers. Our work directly shapes how shoppers experience their day-to-day work and how customers receive the quality orders they expect — and we're just getting started.

We are looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to lead the Enterprise Fulfillment engineering team. In this role, you will drive the stability, scalability, and extensibility of the systems that underpin the shopper app experience. You'll collaborate closely with engineering and product leaders across Instacart's R&D organization, as well as with retailer leadership and cross-functional business development partners, to build innovative grocery picking solutions at scale.

This is a high-impact leadership role where you will own the technical direction for a team of 10+ engineers, set the bar for enterprise-grade engineering quality, and help shape the future of how the world's largest retailers fulfill grocery orders. If you thrive in a fast-moving environment where the problems are complex, the stakes are high, and the opportunity to make a real difference is enormous, this role is for you.

About the Job

• Define, communicate, and drive the technical vision and strategy for the Enterprise Fulfillment team, ensuring alignment with the broader product strategy and key company bets — including scoping and advocating for new technical investments that position the team for long-term success.
• Own the engineering roadmap and enable high-quality execution of key business outcomes, overseeing technical and product decisions that keep the team moving fast without compromising on reliability or scale.
• Establish and champion best practices for production services, holding the team to an exemplary enterprise-grade standard that meets the expectations of the world's largest retailers and their millions of customers.
• Lead, coach, and grow a team of 10+ engineers building best-in-class picking experiences for retailers and shoppers, fostering a culture of ownership, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Drive recruiting and hiring efforts to attract top engineering talent, while partnering across a broader organization of ~50 engineers and a cross-functional network spanning R&D, business development, and occasionally retailer stakeholders directly.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 5+ years in engineering management with a track record of leading teams of 15+ engineers and delivering complex consumer-facing or enterprise-facing products.
• Demonstrated ability to craft and execute strategic engineering roadmaps that align with business objectives and translate product strategy into technical direction.
• Experience as a hands-on technical leader, with prior background performing or closely overseeing individual contributor work at a senior or staff-equivalent level.
• Strong track record of staffing, mentoring, and developing engineering teams, including performance management and career development.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product managers, engineering manager peers, and senior individual contributors in a fast-paced environment.
• Highly structured and proactive communicator, with the ability to engage effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading multiple teams or managing other managers, including scaling a team from early stages to 10+ engineers.
• Prior experience managing engineering teams that own mission-critical, high-availability business systems.
• Experience building and maintaining enterprise-grade software systems at scale.
• Technical familiarity with Ruby on Rails, Go, Swift, and/or Kotlin.

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