Data Scientist II, Logistics

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

About The Role

We are looking for an experienced data scientist with a background in complex and dynamic marketplace problems. The successful candidate will take on a leading role working on Instacart’s core marketplace problems including dynamic pricing, matching, and experimentation. The role will partner with senior product managers and engineers to tackle analytical, experimental, and inferential problems to understand and expand the efficient frontiers of a balanced, sustainable, and resilient multi-sided marketplace. 

About The Team

The Logistics data science group investigates foundational and applied problems at the core of Instacart’s marketplace and fulfillment business. Data scientists in Logistics tackle analytical, experimental, and inferential problems to understand and expand the efficient frontiers of a balanced, sustainable, and resilient multi-sided marketplace. Data scientists work closely with Machine Learning and Operations Research Engineers, Product Managers, and policy partners to iterate marketplace systems, develop new products, and improve experimentation capabilities.

About The Job

• Define and enhance analytical frameworks that guide product decision-making and strategy.
• Design and analyze experiments to derive actionable insights for improving product and system performance.
• Build models and simulations to predict the outcomes of marketplace and policy changes.
• Support the development and refinement of algorithms governing marketplace fulfillment systems.
• Collaborate on strategic projects to improve experimentation capabilities and analytical tooling.
• Help shape Instacart’s marketplace through your expertise in areas such as causal inference, machine learning, forecasting, or optimization modeling.
• Clearly communicate findings and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional teams.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in a data science, analytics, or equivalent role.
• Experience designing experiments and interpreting results to draw actionable conclusions.
• Proficiency in SQL and writing queries for complex datasets.
• Proficiency in Python or R for data analysis and modeling.
• Ability to turn loosely defined problems into clearly structured analyses and business outcomes.
• Strong analytical mindset, flexibility to adapt in a fast-changing environment, and eagerness to learn and grow.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with multi-sided marketplaces.
• Experience working in dynamic pricing, auction, and matching problem spaces
• Hands-on experience developing and evaluating statistical, machine learning, or optimization models.
• Hands-on experience in experimentation design, methods, and tooling in a product-driven organization.
• Familiarity with geospatial data and methods.
• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Excellent communication skills for cross-functional collaboration and leadership engagement

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$164,000—$182,000 USDWA$158,000—$175,000 USDOR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI$150,000—$167,000 USDAll other states$136,000—$151,000 USD