Senior Software Engineer, Commerce Platform

Instacart; Ontario; Remote; CAD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Instacart is seeking a motivated senior back-end engineer to join their team. This role involves designing and implementing scalable systems for managing non-monetary value within their Commerce platform. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in back-end development and system design, and will work collaboratively in a flexible environment. This position is remote, with competitive compensation and benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in back-end development.
• 3+ years in system design and architecture.

Responsibilities

• Implement robust back-end services and APIs.
• Optimize applications for performance and scalability.
• Design scalable, low-latency architectures.

Skills

Ruby

Python

Java

System Design

Ownership Mindset

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

MySQL

Memcached

Redis

Job description

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. We work to deliver an essential service that customers rely on for groceries and household goods, while offering safe and flexible earnings opportunities to Instacart Personal Shoppers.

Instacart has become a lifeline for millions, and we’re building a team to push our shopping cart forward. If you’re ready to do the best work of your life, join us.

Instacart is a Flex First team

Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they work—whether from home, an office, or a coffee shop—while staying connected through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible work approach.

Overview of the Platform teams currently hiring:

Stored Value

We seek a collaborative, motivated senior back-end engineer (L5) passionate about system design. You will build performant, reliable systems managing lifecycle processes for non-monetary value (credits, coupons) within our Commerce platform. These systems support millions of incentive transactions, crucial for our Growth initiatives. This role suits owners eager to develop a deep understanding of our domain and craft scalable, adaptable solutions. You will join a collaborative team emphasizing mentorship, shared growth, and continuous learning in a low-overhead, high-autonomy environment.

Loyalty & Membership

We’re looking for a skilled, collaborative senior engineer with a passion for system design to join our Loyalty & Membership team. Our mission is to make Instacart affordable by providing loyalty benefits to millions. You will design, develop, and launch features impacting a broad customer base, working closely with cross-functional teams and owning projects from start to finish. Our culture emphasizes mentorship, shared growth, and an outcome-driven approach.

About the job

• Implement robust back-end services and APIs with clean, maintainable code.
• Optimize applications for performance and scalability.
• Validate system design feasibility and contribute across all development phases.
• Ensure operational excellence with testing, monitoring, metrics, and alerting.
• Design scalable, low-latency architectures for high-volume incentive processing.
• Develop extensible solutions supporting new business initiatives.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to align goals and schedules.

About you

• Bachelor's in Computer Science or Engineering.
• 5+ years in back-end development.
• 3+ years in system design and architecture.
• Proficient in Ruby, Python, Java.
• Experience with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL.
• Knowledge of caching with Memcached or Redis.
• Experience with high-scale, distributed systems.
• Strong ownership mindset.

Preferred Qualifications

We value experience or interest in:

• Invoicing and billing processes in e-commerce, including regulations.
• Order management systems and end-to-end order lifecycle.
• Payment systems, gateways, and digital wallets.
• Pricing strategies, discounts, and promotional campaigns.

Technologies at Instacart include:

• Ruby on Rails with Sorbet, GraphQL APIs, Postgres, Snowflake.
• Async event handling (AWS SNS/SQS, RabbitMQ), caching (Memcached, Redis).
• Auto-scaling on AWS ECS, cloud monitoring (CloudWatch, DataDog, Sentry).
• And new integrations you research and implement.

This role is remote, with specific hiring provinces in Canada: Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia. Compensation is competitive, with benefits and potential equity grants. Review our policies and benefits for more details.