How to Land a Job at Instacart in 2022

Securing a career opportunity at a leading company can be a difficult task, but thanks to this guide, you’ll have detailed information on how to get a job at Instacart. Whether you want to be a full-service shopper, a web designer, or a software engineer, there are numerous Instacart jobs to choose from. 

Instacart offers a wide array of opportunities ranging from a part-time job for extra cash to a full-time career with benefits. So, how can you get a job with Instacart? Below, find tips, tricks, and answers to common questions about how to apply at Instacart and how to ace the Instacart application process and start working at Instacart.

Instacart: Company Background

Co-founded by Brandon Leonardo, Max Mullen, and Apoorva Mehta, Instacart provides grocery pickup and delivery services. The American company is renowned for its outstanding services throughout North America, in both the United States and Canada. It collaborates with local stores to provide fresh groceries and other small incidentals customers need.

The online grocery startup began as a coding app on Mehta’s computer in 2012 and grew to one of the top food delivery apps in the US and Canada by providing an essential grocery delivery service to busy adults. It relies on both full-time and part-time employees to fill orders. As of 2021, Instacart is valued at around $39 billion. 

How Hard Is It to Land a Job at Instacart?

Snagging a career opportunity at Instacart can be challenging due to the competition in the job market. Moreover, as a leading grocery shopping company in the United States, Instacart attracts numerous traditional employees. So those who want to join the staff as full-service shoppers, engineers, or designers need to be competent professionals in their fields.  

How to Apply for a Job at Instacart

1. Job application. To apply for a software engineer or designer position, you should first submit your application documents. These are turned in via the company website or by handing them over in person at the office.
2. Remote portfolio screening. Once a candidate has submitted their application, they will meet with a senior designer or developer online for portfolio screening. This will give the potential hire an opportunity to share their best projects.
3. Interview. After completing the second step, the candidate will attend a face-to-face interview where they will present projects before a large panel of senior employees, hiring managers, and product managers, among others.  
4. Background check. As a company that provides grocery delivery services, Instacart demands a high level of integrity from full-time and part-time employees. As a result, they run a background check just before the hiring process is complete, and the panel decides whether a person has legal authorization to accept the job opportunity. 
5. Job offer. Once the background check is reviewed and approved, the hiring manager will officially extend a job offer, including the hourly wage you will be making. From there, the candidate can decide whether the terms and conditions are a good fit.  

Instacart Application Process

If you want to earn some extra money by becoming a full-service Instacart shopper or an in-store shopper, you can use the app to apply. Start by providing basic personal information, prove you have regular access to a vehicle, and then schedule an in-person interview. 

Instacart Interview Questions

• Describe your background precisely. This question asks for job history and relevant experience related to the position. When addressing this, the introduction should be captivating for the panel.
• What work environment do you desire? This can be a difficult part of the interview process. However, with enough research about the company’s terms, traditional employees can address it according to their terms. For instance, “A work environment that fosters work-life balance” is a suitable response. 
• What did you do to improve your knowledge last year? This question focuses on the potential employee’s drive to enhance skills and master the discipline they specialize in. Depending on the career, they can say they attended a coding bootcamp or a data science conference. 
• What’s your salary expectation? Most candidates find this one a struggle since they don’t want to put off the panel with high amounts. Before sitting down for an interview, applicants should check the salary range for the position on Glassdoor, PayScale, or BLS to properly answer this question in the most informed way. 
• Why do you have a gap in your resume? When addressing this question, applicants should demonstrate how they chose to devote full attention to enhancing their knowledge or acquiring important skills in web design or product management.

What’s It Like to Work at Instacart?

Before getting hired as a customer service representative or data analyst at any company, there are different aspects to consider. Below are some of the factors applicants will need to evaluate if they want to know whether they will enjoy being workers at Instacart. 

Career Development

Whether seeking junior- or intermediate-level employment, potential hirees should consider whether their prospective employer supports their career development. Instacart provides multiple opportunities to ensure employees establish successful careers. For instance, workers can apply for senior employment opportunities in the company and earn promotions. 

Payment

What does Instacart pay its employees? Regardless of experience, an employee deserves decent pay that matches their lifestyle. That’s why Instacart provides competitive pay and takes good care of its employees. For instance, the average personal shopper earns $31,496 per year, while a software engineer earns $162,076.

Working Culture

As a company that supports its employees’ well-being, Instacart has created a great working environment. Whether providing resources, time off, monthly ice cream meetings, free food, company social outings, or other perks to keep its in-house people and independent contractors motivated, this company fosters a good working environment.  

Instacart Benefits

• Flexible schedule. While Instacart has high standards that professionals need to live up to, the company provides flexible working hours, with most career opportunities being remote or hybrid. This allows its traditional employees ample spare time to engage in hobbies, part-time jobs, or other responsibilities such as parenting. 
• Health insurance. Health is key to performance, whether at work or home. That’s why Instacart provides its traditional employees with health insurance to ensure they get quality treatment services to keep them happy and healthy. 
• 401(k) savings plan. While busy keeping shoppers safe, Instacart also cares about its software engineers’ futures. As a result, the company offers a competitive 401(k) to help its employees secure their futures.
• Perks. To foster a great working environment, Instacart extends perks such as free drinks, a casual dress code, and social outings. Employees can even enjoy some of these perks as Instacart shoppers. 
• Paid leave. Instacart’s employees enjoy parenting leave, sick leave, adoption leave, and vacation time, so they can stay financially stable no matter what kind of time they might need away. 

Instacart Career Opportunities: Job Titles and Descriptions

Instacart offers many viable career opportunities that target a wide range of backgrounds and professions. For instance, job seekers can become shoppers, economists, or analysts to help create great customer experiences. Below are some of the current job openings with Instacart.

Senior Software Engineer, Data

• Salary: $173,674
• Benefits: Disability insurance, health insurance, paid sick leave
• Required Experience: 5 or more years of experience in data science or data engineering
• Required Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline

This leadership role is in San Francisco and requires a high level of collaboration. These engineers will work closely with analysts, infrastructure experts, and data scientist teams to ensure maximum productivity. They will also lead a team that directly manages projects involving company stakeholders. 

The minimum qualification a candidate should have is a bachelor’s degree. Some of the essential skills for this role include communication skills and programming skills in Python, expert knowledge of SQL, and five or more years of experience in data engineering or data science.

Senior Product Manager, Finance Data

• Salary: $200,640
• Benefits: Paid vacation, flexible schedule, health insurance
• Required Experience: Experience in SaaS software creation
• Required Education: Not stated

Senior product managers at Instacart will work with the financial solutions and systems team to tackle complex data issues, perform data analysis, establish data integrity, and analyze financial reports.

Although this position is similar to other product managers, it requires data integration at every stage. The main duties of this job are to design products according to data-driven insights, and to model, test, measure, and analyze data products and processes.

Senior Data Scientist

• Salary: $193,454
• Benefits: 401(k), health insurance, flexible work schedule, perks
• Required Experience: 4 or more years of experience in data mining, predictive analytics, or statistics data modeling
• Required Education: Master’s Degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Physics, or an equivalent subject 

These data scientists are in charge of providing solutions for large-scale opportunities. As senior data scientists, employees are expected to support data-driven decisions. Some of the business areas the hirees will champion include shoppers, ads, customer growth, and retailers.

Some of the requirements include the ability to code in R and Python, experience in a/b testing, and data-driven analytics. Applicants with a Ph.D. or Master’s Degree in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Physics, Statistics, or a related field have a higher chance of getting hired.

Machine Learning Infrastructure, Software Engineer

• Salary: $157,549
• Benefits: Paid holiday, 401(k) plan, health insurance
• Required Experience: 5 or more years of experience creating ML infrastructure and 3 or more years of experience
• Required Education: Background in statistics, math, or computer science

The role of Instacart’s ML software engineers involves designing solutions that support state-of-the-art machine learning infrastructure. The company expects these software engineers to enable other engineers and machine learning teams to maximize the use of ML solutions.

Instacart requires all candidates have a background in computer science, statistics, mathematics, or a related discipline. Applicants also need proficiency in C++ or Python, Linux operating system expertise, and experience in AWS.

Associate Product Manager

• Salary: $150.135
• Benefits: Paid holidays, flexible schedule, 401(k) retirement plan, and paid sick leave
• Required Experience: Experience in strategy, business, and software roles
• Required Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college

The associate product manager will assist junior staff in kickstarting their careers, gaining practical experience, and addressing user challenges, helping teams excel in their duties. 

Some of the main responsibilities include creating and re-inventing solutions, influencing team members to combine resources, and helping the company to exceed expectations. The APM program starts in early August and ends in early November, and interested parties should apply for the position early to secure the best chance of getting hired

Business Systems Analyst, Oracle Financials Cloud

• Salary: $145,123
• Benefits: Flexible schedule, 401(k), health insurance, paid holidays
• Required Experience: 5 or more years of working experience in business systems analysis
• Required Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Instacart’s business systems analysts have strong experience in non-Oracle financial systems, developing financial solutions, and accounting principles. Although this opening is a junior-level career opportunity, it requires a wealth of experience in this field, excellent writing skills, strong communication skills, and enthusiasm to help others.

Senior Analytics Engineer, Finance Data

• Salary: $213,264
• Benefits: Life insurance, vision insurance, flexible hours, 401(k) plans
• Required Experience: 5 or more years of professional experience in data engineering, data science, or a similar area
• Required Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

These analytics engineers focus on integrating solid, efficient, and flexible data models and work closely with the finance team to create data solutions. Other roles include empowering business owners, data scientists, and data analysts, developing appealing data visualizations, and implementing flexible data solutions.

This senior position requires several years of working experience in data analysis, advanced SQL experience, excellent coordination and communication skills, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude. Interested applicants will also need knowledge of GitHub, Jira, Snowflake, and other visualization tools.

Staff iOS Engineer

• Salary: $136,526
• Benefits: Health insurance, 401(k), paid vacation, disability insurance
• Required Experience: 10 or more years of working experience in a related role
• Required Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field

iOS has driven the success of numerous online shopping businesses. The winning applicant will collaborate with team members to create state-of-the-art applications that offer maximum order visibility. These engineers will also educate employees about iOS capabilities and features, and lead and mentor collaborators that impact multiple teams.

To be eligible for this position, applicants need a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, vast previous working experience in a related field, and automated testing expertise. Other requirements include advanced algorithm and programming skills. 

Senior Client Platform Engineer

• Salary: $193,925
• Benefits: Paid holiday, perks, health insurance
• Required Experience: 5 or more years of experience automating systems, 5 or more years of experience in enterprise technologies, 5 or more years of experience working on large-scale applications, 3 or more years of experience in Azure Active Directory 
• Required Education: Not stated

These engineers require a wide range of skills for scripting and endpoint management. The ideal candidate will have a solid technical background and IT endpoint systems expertise. 

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This role involves device automation and management, overseeing the designing and maintenance of the device management systems, and maintaining the availability of every system. Applicants will also collaborate with IT personnel and vendors to address infrastructure and system issues.

 Application Support Analyst

• Salary: $74,174
• Benefits: Vision insurance, dental insurance, health insurance, life insurance
• Required Experience: 4 or more years of experience in technical support, SQL experience, experience with Jira services 
• Required Education: Bachelor’s degree or technical diploma

Instacart’s application support analysts collaborate with the support system operations and the engineering department to address retailer-related issues. This role demands high technical skills and relationship-building abilities.

In addition to a bachelor’s degree or technical diploma, applicants should have vast experience in technical support roles, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, SQL expertise, and by nature be curious, busy people who enjoy solving problems. 

What Does It Take to Get a Job at Instacart?

To become an Instacart employee, you need to match the job’s minimum requirements. Then demonstrate your exceptional skills and expertise during the interview process. Once you complete this, you can secure the job opportunity and establish a successful career for yourself.

How to Get a Job at Instacart FAQ