Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Economist

Instacart

2d•$173,000 - $218,500•Remote

About The Position

As a machine learning engineer in the Economics team, you will build state-of-the-art systems that blend rigorous economic thought with sophisticated machine learning algorithms to tackle some of the company's most challenging problems. Working in a horizontal team, you will have the opportunity to collaborate closely with partners across multiple functions to operate on a highly diverse set of problems, contributing both economic and engineering expertise in a fast-paced environment filled with exciting opportunities for technically-minded economists. The Economics team at Instacart works on a range of interesting and challenging problems across our platform, from aligning the incentives in our multi-sided marketplace to analyzing the role of prices and product placement in our customers' decision-making. Some of the core areas of focus for our team include matching and logistics, online advertising, uplift and long-term value modeling, and general causal inference.

Requirements

Graduate Degree (Masters or PhD) in Economics or a closely related field
A blend of economic theory, applied econometrics, and business skills that let you jump into a fast-paced environment and contribute from day one.
Experience applying causal inference methodologies to both observational and experimental datasets.
An understanding of machine learning algorithms and techniques.
Strong programming skills (Python) and fluency in data manipulation (SQL, Pandas) and machine learning tools (e.g., scikit-learn, XGBoost).
Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written).
Self-motivation and a strong sense of ownership.
1-3 years of industry experience in a similar position (for Senior ML Engineer I, Economist hires).
Experience putting machine learning models into production environments (for Senior ML Engineer I, Economist hires).
Experience with cloud computing and related ML infrastructure (for Senior ML Engineer I, Economist hires).

Nice To Haves

A PhD in Economics or a closely related field with a focus on data-intense problems.
Intern experience in related roles.
Experience with large language models and generative AI, both on the algorithm side as well as a day-to-day tool.
Experience with uplift modeling, contextual bandits, and/or heterogeneous treatment effect estimation.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and deploy machine learning solutions to tackle the many economic challenges in our complex marketplace.
Collaborate closely with product managers, data scientists, and other engineers to deeply understand business needs and create impactful solutions.
Push the envelope on our operational efficiency by continually refining and advancing our algorithms and models.
Be an active member of the Economics team, sharing learnings, best practices, and research across domains while refining and advancing our algorithms.