Staff Software Engineer, Enterprise Fulfillment Platform

Instacart

16h • $221,000 - $279,000 • Remote

About The Position

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will drive the technical vision, architectural direction, and execution of high‑impact platform capabilities across Instacart’s Enterprise Fulfillment Platform APIs and services. You will own some of the most complex problem spaces in fulfillment orchestration, external integrations, and high‑throughput distributed systems. Your work will shape the next generation of Instacart’s fulfillment technology, ensuring reliability, scalability, and long‑term efficiency across the ecosystem.
You will operate as a senior technical leader, influencing engineering direction across teams, mentoring senior engineers, and establishing engineering excellence standards without formal management responsibilities.
This role is part of the Enterprise Platform team within the broader Fulfillment organization. The team builds and operates foundational systems that power Connect API Fulfillment and Instacart’s 3rd‑Party Fulfillment Platform, enabling retailers, partners, and external providers to integrate Instacart‑powered fulfillment experiences directly into their own environments.
The team’s mission is to deliver a highly reliable, extensible platform; expand partner capabilities; accelerate adoption; and drive GTV growth by powering next‑generation fulfillment orchestration. As a Staff Engineer, you will play a central role in setting the technical strategy to achieve these goals.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science (or related field), or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of backend or platform engineering experience, with a strong record of delivering complex, high‑impact systems.
• Demonstrated ability to define architectural strategy and drive consensus across teams.
• Deep experience owning production services, with strong emphasis on reliability, observability, and performance.
• Ability to deliver high‑quality code in high‑traffic, mission‑critical systems.
• Strong communication skills, with experience collaborating directly with product teams, internal customers, or external partners.
• Proven leadership as a senior IC, including mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical direction at the org level.

Nice To Haves

• Experience designing or scaling external‑facing APIs used by partners or third parties.
• Expertise in distributed systems, orchestration architectures, or large‑scale platform development.
• Experience integrating with external partners, enterprise customers, or third‑party fulfillment systems.
• Track record of cross‑team architectural leadership and evolving platform‑level capabilities.
• Ability to generate forward‑looking technical strategies and influence multi‑year roadmaps.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead development of core platform components powering Connect API Fulfillment and the 3rd‑Party Fulfillment Platform.
• Define and drive long‑term architectural direction for scalable, reliable APIs and fulfillment orchestration systems supporting complex, high‑volume use cases.
• Lead execution of major, ambiguous platform initiatives from concept through launch, frequently spanning multiple teams and stakeholders.
• Partner closely with product, design, infrastructure, and external‑facing teams to define requirements, integration contracts, and platform strategy.
• Improve system reliability, throughput, and developer experience through architectural improvements, technical standards, and scalable patterns.
• Establish best practices and frameworks for next‑generation orchestration, partner‑facing APIs, and platform capabilities.
• Mentor and guide engineers across the organization, shaping technical culture and raising engineering quality.
• Serve as a subject‑matter expert in distributed systems, platform architecture, and integration‑oriented design.

What This Job Offers

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