Instacart
Online grocery delivery marketplace with shoppers
Chief of Staff - Online Grocery
+ New-hire equity grant + Annual refresh grants
Travel up to 10% is required.
About the job
- 10+ years of work experience.
- R&D experience earned in a direct R&D role such as product, design, engineering, or technical program management; an adjacent role embedded with R&D teams; or as a Chief of Staff within an R&D organization.
- A consulting, corporate strategy or operations, or finance background and experience working directly with executives.
- Working fluency to navigate a product, design, and engineering organization at scale and serve as a problem-solving partner to R&D leaders rather than a coordinator.
- High emotional intelligence and a people-oriented approach to building trusted relationships, reading organizational dynamics, and bridging leadership and teams.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication at an executive level.
- Strong analytical skills and a commitment to consistently high-quality work.
- Exceptional program management skills, including organizing and driving multiple complex initiatives forward to deadline simultaneously.
- Ability to travel 10%.
- Own and continuously improve the business rhythm for the General Manager and organization, including leadership team syncs, all-team meetings, monthly and quarterly business reviews, planning reviews, organizational communications, and Online Grocery segments of company-wide all-hands.
- Manage the operating cadence for the General Manager by prioritizing and delegating workstreams and ensuring the right work receives attention at the right time.
- Improve organizational decision-making by clarifying decision rights, identifying key questions, building decision frameworks and pre-reads, and removing friction.
- Capture and sharpen decisions, communicate them to appropriate stakeholders, and close the execution loop by keeping priorities, decisions, and commitments visible and on track.
- Shape and run the substance of leadership team offsites, including objectives, agendas, pre-reads, discussions, decisions, and follow-through.
- Serve as a trusted thought partner to the General Manager and a problem-solving partner to product and R&D leaders, and build relationships with chiefs of staff across the organization.
- Prepare briefings and coordinate research for the General Manager's meetings with partners and key leaders by identifying goals, talking points, and relevant context.
- Partner with the General Manager, Human Resources, and finance to manage the organization's headcount budget.
- Drive the calendar, planning, and content for upward communication and alignment with the C-suite and board on Online Grocery priorities.
- Support the General Manager in preparing content for speaking engagements in partnership with the communications team.
- Help the General Manager identify, diagnose, and address organizational issues by providing structured read-outs and early signals.
- Partner with the General Manager and Human Resources to address relationship and culture dynamics and create a high-trust, high-performance leadership team culture.
- Turn engagement-survey signals into action by developing, pressure-testing, executing, and closing the loop on organizational plans with teams.
- Help the General Manager initiate and drive annual and long-range planning for Online Grocery.
- Take ambiguous new efforts from unclear to fully underway by creating clarity and plans, identifying directly responsible individuals, setting up decisions, aligning stakeholders, and developing operating rhythms to track progress.
- Proactively identify and take ownership of emerging opportunities and risks before they become blockers.
- Experience designing and facilitating leadership offsites and driving organizational, culture, or operating-model change.
- Experience building with artificial intelligence, such as prototypes, automations, or agents, in a professional setting.
- Experience within high-growth, technology-driven companies.
About the company
Instacart operates an online grocery delivery platform across North America, allowing customers to order from local stores via website or app. Personal shoppers pick, pack, and deliver the items to customers’ doors or offer in-store pickup. Revenue comes from delivery fees, the Express membership, a service fee, and in-app advertising; it offers a catalog of about 1 billion products from 500+ retailers. The goal is to be the leading, reliable platform for same-day grocery delivery with broad reach and strong service standards.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Founded
2012
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Dollar General partnership launched September 23, 2026, expanding same-day delivery to 20,000 stores.
- September 21, 2026 shelf-visibility software opens higher-margin enterprise revenue beyond delivery commissions.
- Meta's Muse partnership and broader AI adoption validate Instacart's grocery-AI category and discovery loop.
What critics are saying
- Seattle fined Instacart $149,786 on September 24, 2026, signaling ongoing worker-classification compliance exposure.
- FTC forced $60 million refunds over deceptive fees; pricing transparency remains a litigation magnet.
- Kroger, Albertsons, and grocery chains own richer first-party data, threatening Instacart's AI differentiation by 2027.
What makes Instacart unique
- September 2026 launches leverage 600,000 shoppers and 1.6 billion orders for real-time grocery intelligence.
- Instacart's marketplace spans 2,200 banners and nearly 100,000 stores, unmatched breadth in U.S. grocery.
- Clementine and Cart Assistant fuse live inventory with purchase history, improving cart quality instantly.
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Benefits
Go far together
Grow the pie
Roll up your sleeves
Put it all on the table
Serve generously
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 0%Instacart pays $150K to settle Seattle app-based worker pay violations. Sep 24, 2026, 10:36 AM MyNorthwest.com Instacart has agreed to pay nearly $150,000 to settle alleged violations of Seattle's app-based worker pay law. According to the Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS), 846 Instacart workers were affected. The settlement includes back pay, interest, damages, and civil penalties. "The law is clear, app-based workers who are picking up orders that start in Seattle are entitled to minimum payment," OLS Director Steven Marchese said. "We are seeing this issue come up more frequently, which makes enforcement especially important. While we want to ensure all businesses are following the law, we also want to ensure workers know their rights and feel empowered to come forward if they believe they are not being paid what they are owed." The City of Seattle first learned of Instacart's failings when the company did not provide the required minimum payment for orders picked up at two Seattle restaurants near the Shoreline border. "App-based workers are a vital part of Seattle's economy, yet many face barriers to accessing information about their rights," Founder and CEO of Growing Contigo, José Manuel Vasquez, said. "Through our partnership with the Seattle Office of Labor Standards, Growing Contigo helps bridge that gap by delivering culturally relevant, language-accessible outreach and education directly in the communities where app-based workers live and work. We empower app-based workers to better understand their rights, navigate complex processes, and become educated about how to operate as an app-based worker." Instacart settles with FTC over deceptive practices but faces separate investigation into prices. Delivery company Instacart paid $60 million in customer refunds last December under a settlement reached with the Federal Trade Commission over alleged deceptive practices. The FTC said that Instacart has been falsely advertising free deliveries. The San Francisco-based company isn't clearly disclosing service fees, which add as much as 15% to an order and must be paid for customers to receive their groceries, the FTC said. Instacart has also failed to clearly disclose that customers who enroll in a free trial for its Instacart+ program will be charged membership fees at the end of the trial. The FTC said hundreds of thousands of customers have been charged but have received no benefits from memberships or refunds. Instacart+ offers members free deliveries on most orders for $99 per year. The FTC said Instacart also advertises a "100% satisfaction guarantee," but customers who experience late deliveries or unprofessional service typically receive only a small credit that can be used toward a future order, not a refund. "The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to ensure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms," Christopher Mufarrige, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said. Instacart denied the FTC's allegations of wrongdoing Thursday but said it reached a settlement in order to move forward and focus on its business. Contributing: The Associated Press
The biggest AI adoption risk. Published on 09/24/2026 at 12:22 pm EDT MT Newswires Former Instacart President and current Beacon CEO Nilam Ganenthiran says the biggest obstacle to AI adoption is trust. He explains why AI is "arming both the good guys and bad guys," how safety fears are holding back the real economy, and why Beacon is building what he calls an "AI-native Berkshire Hathaway." Bloomberg videos, provided by MT Newswires (C) MT Newswires - 2026
Deliveroo couriers to pick, pack and deliver Aldi rapid grocery orders. Deliveroo couriers will pick, pack and deliver Aldi products to customers in an exclusive partnership between the aggregator app and the discounter. The new 'Shop & Deliver' service will be trialled across eight stores from early October, including Norwich, Ipswich, Tamworth, Letchworth Garden City and four stores in Kent. The service is set to expand to further stores in early 2027. Participating couriers will be guided around stores via the rider app, which lists items in the most efficient order to help riders readily locate them. The Deliveroo couriers then scan each product using their phones and can flag any unavailable items before paying with a pre-paid Rider Card. The new service is entirely optional for riders, but "offers an additional way to earn" Deliveroo said. Explore related questions. The model "allows Aldi colleagues to focus on keeping stores running smoothly for consumers" the company added. Shop & Deliver is modelled on a "similar, established capability" rolled out by DoorDash, Deliveroo's parent company, in geographies including with Aldi in Australia and the US. "We've always been committed to bringing low prices to as many people as possible, and this partnership with Deliveroo allows us to do exactly that without changing how our stores operate," said Giles Hurley, CEO at Aldi UK. "The DoorDash model has been incredibly popular with Aldi customers in Australia and the United States, and we know from our previous trials there is clear demand for more affordable groceries on a rapid delivery platform in the UK," Hurley added. "By working with Deliveroo, in this unique and efficient way, we can give more people access to Aldi quality and value, however they choose to shop with us," he said. Unlike most of its supermarket rivals, Aldi has had limited dealing with the aggregator apps like Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat. Nor does the discounter offer online grocery shopping, or click & collect. It did partner with Deliveroo in 2020, but ended the relationship in 2022, removing 130 stores nationwide from the platform. As part of the new operating model customers will be able to shop a wide range of Aldi products, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, dairy, bread, household essentials and Aldi's middle aisle Specialbuys products, for delivery on demand. "Consumers in several locations across the country will soon be able to enjoy Aldi's great value and selection delivered to their doorstep on demand," said Rob Harris, VP merchant and chief revenue officer at Deliveroo. "For riders, Shop & Deliver is entirely optional, offering an additional way to earn outside of busy mealtimes which may suit those who choose to ride alongside childcare or another form of work," he added. The concept of couriers entering stores to pick products on the retailers behalf has been limited in the UK, but more common in the US where platforms like Instacart partner with Costco, Kroger and Aldi. Instacart has not brought the same model to the UK, despite launching its Caper Cart smart trolleys and order management software here. In 2024, Uber Eats announced couriers would soon be picking items from store shelves, as well as delivering the orders, in what it said would be a first in Europe for a delivery platform. However, the launch never materialised; Uber Eats' grocery chief telling The Grocer later that year that "these things aren't easy and take a lot of time". Resourcing the picking of rapid grocery orders is an increasing challenge for supermarkets, The Grocer reporting this week on Tesco worker complaints over how the supermarket's new partnerships with Uber Eats and Deliveroo are "genuinely destroying the store", with demand from the platforms making their work "a nightmare". Latest. Partner features. No comments yet. You will be able to: * Read more stories * Receive daily newsletters * Comment on stories
Dollar General and Instacart on demand delivery partnership kicks off with pilot across six US states. Instacart and Dollar General have announced a new partnership to offer same-day delivery of the latter's everyday essentials through the former's app and website. The partnership will launch with a pilot at approximately 7,000 Dollar General and pOpshelf stores in six states in the coming weeks with plans to expand to approximately 20,000 stores across 48 states this autumn. "Dollar General's vast footprint and longstanding commitment to affordability make them an important addition to the Instacart Marketplace," says Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer at Instacart. "As we expand this partnership to approximately 20,000 Dollar General and pOpshelf stores, we'll help provide customers in communities across the country with even greater access to affordable food and everyday essentials, with the convenience of same-day delivery." "Our mission is Serving Others, and we continually look for new ways to provide customers with the value and convenience they count on," says Tony Rogers, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Dollar General. "Our partnership with Instacart provides another convenient way for customers to access affordable food, household essentials and other products they need while saving them valuable time." So hot right now Instacart is included in RTIH's first ever Retail Technology Hot 100 List. Launching in August, this sees Retailtechinnovationhub bringing you the hottest companies whose solutions and systems are helping drive the retail sector forward. Its Founder and Editor, Scott Thompson, drew up a list of 150 companies that had consistently been on his radar over the past 12 months whilst bringing its community the latest retail tech news and views that matter. These companies operate across the omnichannel retail landscape (stores, online, mobile, supply chain, payments etc). Its judging panel, including Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO, Holland & Barrett, Dan McGrath, JD Group Customer Operations, JD Sports, Dr. Astha Purohit, Director of Product Management, Customer Data and Identity, Walmart, and Paula Bobbett, Chief Data and Digital Officer, Boots, provided feedback on those who have the most innovative, forward thinking technology offerings and are also best addressing retailers' current challenges, painpoints, and opportunities. The judges used the following framework when making their picks: 1. Retailer problem fit - how meaningful, strategic, and widely felt the retailer pain being addressed is. 2. Production traction in retail (2025-2026) - real named retailer deployments, pilots. 3. Innovation and defensibility - genuine technical novelty paired with a defensible competitive position. And there was also a public vote, with thousands of members of its community of retail tech enthusiasts getting involved. Thanks to all those who took part! Based on the judging panel's feedback and the public vote, Retailtechinnovationhub then drew up its first ever RTIH Retail Technology Hot 100. So, without further ado, here are the 100 hottest global retail technology ventures right now. Drum roll, please...
Meta has launched Muse, a new AI agent that partners with Instacart to handle grocery shopping tasks. The technology aims to streamline the online grocery purchasing process through artificial intelligence capabilities. The system is currently undergoing human concierge testing to evaluate its performance. Despite this innovation, some investment strategists remain hesitant about Meta stock, according to industry analysts. The partnership represents Meta's continued push into practical AI applications that directly serve consumer needs, expanding beyond its social media platforms into everyday services like grocery delivery.