Senior Software Engineer II, Inventory Intelligence

Overview

The Inventory Intelligence team brings together Instacart’s expansive presence in grocery stores with advanced technologies like computer vision to gather data and insights into on-shelf inventory. We aim to leverage those insights to dramatically increase Instacart’s understanding of global stock movement and to power services that unlock value for us and our partners.

As a Senior Engineer II on the Inventory Intelligence team, you will play a critical role in building and scaling systems that process large amounts of inventory data, both in real-time and batch pipelines. You’ll work on projects that integrate with retailer point-of-sale (POS) and inventory management systems to improve the end-to-end grocery shopping experience. You will focus on implementing innovative, technically complex projects to deliver new in-store technologies to our retail partners, ensuring a smooth transition from concepts to dependable products.

Inventory Intelligence is a part of Instacart’s Connected Stores organization. You can read more about it on our blog here.

The Inventory Intelligence team is all about moving fast. We value rapid iteration more than detailed long-range planning and get a kick out of solving real problems for both consumers in the store and our retail partners. We believe the grocery store of the future will transform customers’ expectations:

• Iterative: We work in small steps, fast. We’re building zero to one and we work a lot like a startup.
• Collaborative: We work together to solve problems and avoid silos.
• Inventive & Innovative: We take high-conviction bets and try them.
• Self-organizing: We often manage our own work and are driven to do more. We don’t wait for someone to assign us work and we don’t get blocked on questions. We make decisions and share them.
• Pragmatic: We don’t reinvent the wheel or build abstractions before we know what we’re building.
• High ownership: We break out of the constraints of hierarchy-based expectations to get the job done.

About the Job

• You will design, implement, and lead technical projects focused on large-scale data ingestion pipelines (real-time and batch) for retailer inventory systems.
• You will integrate with retailer POS and inventory management platforms to support actionable insights and operational excellence.
• You will work alongside a small, senior-leaning team of engineers who are responsible for scaling the Inventory Intelligence initiative
• You will collaborate with Product Management, Operations, and other engineering teams to ensure all stakeholders are in close communication on our efforts
• You will mentor and support team members, fostering a culture of continuous growth, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
• You will defend Instacart’s standing as a trusted partner by delivering reliable, performant, and scalable solutions.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of software development experience with a solid understanding of back-end Web technologies in production settings.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of projects and deliver high-quality technical solutions.
• Self-motivated with a strong drive to work in a startup-like environment.
• Experience working within a large codebase shared with multi-functional teams.
• Strong proficiency in SQL.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent work experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and scaling data ingestion pipelines, both real-time and batch.
• Hands-on experience with retail inventory management and point-of-sale (POS) systems.
• Familiarity with e-commerce and real-world applications of inventory optimization.
• Track record of scaling systems from initial development to broader enterprise adoption.
• Some experience with front-end Web technologies.

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