Forward Deployed Engineer

We are looking for builders who thrive in the room with customers, treat ambiguity as a puzzle, and can switch between writing code and facilitating a stakeholder conversation in the same afternoon. About You Minimum Qualifications 10+ years of software engineering experience with a demonstrated ability to write and ship production-quality code. Hands-on experience building with LLM APIs, function calling, tool use, agent frameworks, or RAG pipelines—you have shipped something agentic that real users depended on. Proficiency in Python or another scripting/backend language commonly used in data-intensive environments. Proven ability to integrate with messy, heterogeneous enterprise data environments — undocumented APIs, schema mismatches, auth complexity, and legacy systems that do not behave the way the docs claim. Direct experience with external enterprise customers or technical stakeholders in a consulting or customer-facing capacity — earning trust in the room matters as much as writing code. Strong working knowledge of retail and e-commerce system fundamentals. Strong communication skills — able to translate field learnings and technical findings into actionable input for R&D and product teams. Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where the process is not fully defined. Preferred Qualifications Prior work in a forward deployed, embedded engineering, or professional services capacity. Background at a startup or early-stage company where you wore multiple hats. Experience in enterprise software implementation, systems integration, or solutions engineering. Exposure to retail tech, e-commerce, or supply chain systems. #LI-Remote 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 rea d 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 $203,000 — $214,000 USD WA $194,000 — $205,000 USD OR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI $185,000 — $195,500 USD All other states $169,000 — $178,500 USD