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Senior Applied Scientist II, Ads Optimization

Instacart ·
61
AI-Agency
B72 U45
📍 US 🌐 Remote-only 💰 $201K–$253K Senior 8+ yrs
PythonGoJavaC++
TL;DR

Senior Applied Scientist II at Instacart building real-time bid optimization systems for the ads platform. Designs constrained optimization algorithms for bidding, pacing, and budgeting that process millions of decisions daily.

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Job description

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

The Advertiser Optimization team is the decision-making engine of Instacart's $1B+ ads business. We own the systems responsible for Bidding, Pacing, Budgeting, and Targeting: converting stated advertiser goals into real-time auction actions. Our mission is to maximize realized Advertiser Value by deciding when to participate, how much to bid, and how fast to spend, all while balancing User Experience and Platform Revenue.

 

We are hiring a Senior Applied Scientist II to lead the algorithmic direction of these systems. This is a role for someone who thinks in terms of control theory, constrained optimization, and auction economics, and who can translate those frameworks into production code that makes millions of decisions per day. You will formulate problems from first principles, shape the technical roadmap, and own systems end-to-end from mathematical design through production deployment through impact measurement.

About the Job

About You

Minimum Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

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 US based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below.

CA, NY, CT, NJ
$240,000$253,500 USD
WA
$230,000$243,000 USD
OR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI
$221,000$233,000 USD
All other states
$201,000$212,000 USD
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