Product Counsel

EngineersOfAI; United States; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Instacart is seeking a Product Counsel to serve as a strategic legal partner embedded with development teams. You will help manage regulatory landscapes for a growing product portfolio including international markets, hardware like Caper carts, and retailer platforms.

You will guide teams from the start, identifying risks and building scalable compliance frameworks while enabling product momentum with practical legal solutions that align with business objectives.

Qualifications

• J.D. from a top-tier law school with active bar membership in at least one U.S. state.
• 5+ years of legal experience at a leading law firm or in-house legal department.
• Familiarity with legal issues in Internet and e-commerce spaces (commercial, copyright, privacy, advertising, payments, SaaS).
• A creative, business-minded approach to legal problem-solving and the ability to find practical paths forward on novel issues while working within product constraints
• Ability to provide clear, concise legal advice and drive results cross-functionally
• Proven ability to independently manage competing priorities across multiple teams in a fast-paced environment
• Comfort working with AI tools to drive efficiency and streamline l

Responsibilities

• Identify jurisdiction-specific risks early and build scalable compliance frameworks for new product initiatives.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and design to ship initiatives with compliant, practical solutions.
• Improve cross-functional legal processes by introducing AI-assisted workflows and faster response times.
• Map and proactively manage exposure across consumer protection, payments, privacy, and commercial compliance with clear escalation paths.
• Partner with business teams to translate risk into actionable guidance enabling ambitious ideas to advance.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

J.D. from a top-tier law school

Active bar membership in at least one U.S. state

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.

Why this role is on the menu

Instacart’s product portfolio is expanding rapidly into new international markets, physical hardware like Caper carts, and retailer‑facing platforms like Storefront Pro all in addition to Instacart’s core business. These initiatives need a strategic legal partner embedded with development teams from the start — someone who can understand the business objectives, identify key legal risks early, and find creative ways to maintain product momentum while managing those risks. We’re hiring a Product Counsel to serve as that partner, guiding teams through complex and evolving regulatory landscapes with creative solutions that help achieve business objectives. This role sits at the intersection of law, technology, and e‑commerce, and the person who fills it will have a direct impact on how Instacart’s most ambitious bets come to life.

What you’ll cook up in your first year

• Product teams launching new products have a trusted legal partner who accelerates development by identifying jurisdiction‑specific risks early and by building scalable compliance frameworks that don’t need to be rebuilt for each new initiative.
• Product initiatives ship with confidence because you’ve worked alongside product, engineering, and design to find creative, practical solutions that address the legal issues these initiatives raise.
• Cross‑functional legal processes are measurably more efficient because you’ve identified leverage points, introduced AI‑assisted workflows, and reduced time‑to‑answer for recurring legal questions across Product, BD, and Operations.
• Instacart’s exposure across consumer protection, payments, privacy, and commercial compliance is well‑mapped and proactively managed, with documented risk frameworks and clear escalation paths.
• Business partners across the company describe Legal as the team that identifies critical risks early and helps them get ambitious ideas across the finish line — and you’re the reason why.

The secret ingredients we’re looking for

Must‑have pantry staples (Minimum Qualifications)

• J.D. from a top‑tier law school with active bar membership in at least one U.S. state
• 5+ years of legal experience at a leading law firm or in‑house legal department
• Familiarity with legal issues in Internet and e‑commerce spaces (commercial, copyright, privacy, advertising, payments, SaaS)
• A creative, business‑minded approach to legal problem‑solving and the ability to find practical paths forward on novel issues while working within product constraints
• Ability to provide clear, concise legal advice and drive results cross‑functionally
• Proven ability to independently manage competing priorities across multiple teams in a fast‑paced environment
• Comfort working with AI tools to drive efficiency and streamline l