Senior Manager, Design Systems & Foundations

Instacart

65d • $183,000 - $245,000

About The Position

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.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in digital product design.
• 3+ years of experience leading teams, managing both design systems designers and design technologists.
• A proven track record of evolving design systems at scale.
• Expertise in Figma, design tokens, multi-platform systems, and governance processes.
• Strong understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG).
• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills.
• Ability to balance functional design with visionary thinking.
• Passion for fostering a community of practice and elevating design culture.

Nice To Haves

• Deep curiosity and comfort identifying and pursuing opportunities to work with emerging tools, technologies, and workflows.
• Experience defining and implementing motion design principles.
• Knowledge of how to integrate motion patterns into a design system.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end strategy, roadmap, and vision for the Instacart Design System across web, iOS, and Android.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 8 designers and design technologists.
• Anticipate trends and proactively adapt IDS to meet emerging business, technology, and user needs.
• Continuously improve established frameworks for governance, contribution, and adoption.
• Build deep partnerships with Product, Engineering, and Brand teams.
• Champion design excellence and ensure IDS is a foundation for accessible, cutting-edge, and user-first experiences.
• Provide transparency and education to stakeholders and teams through office hours, release notes, and community engagements.

Benefits

• Highly market-competitive compensation and benefits.
• Remote work flexibility.
• New hire equity grant and annual refresh grants.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees