Staff Technical Program Manager, Core Experience

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 Instacart’s Technical Program Management team sits within Engineering and brings cross-functional partners together to solve some of the most complex problems in our multi-sided marketplace. As a Staff Technical Program Manager, you will operate at the intersection of technical strategy and execution, leading high-visibility, company-wide initiatives that shape the future of our products, platform, and operations. You will drive programs that span customers, shoppers, retailers, and brands—owning strategy, execution, and outcomes across multiple teams. Current areas of focus include Core Experience initiatives such as Shopping AI Transformation, Health and Meals, and AI-driven personalization. You’ll partner closely with Engineering, Product, Data Science, Design, and Business teams, as well as VPs and executive leadership, to align on goals, derisk solutions, and deliver results at scale. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, enjoy turning ambiguity into structure, and care deeply about raising the bar for quality and collaboration, this role offers the opportunity to influence company strategy and deliver impact that customers feel every day. We value ownership, transparency, and working together to achieve ambitious goals. About the Job Lead the strategy, definition, and end-to-end execution of complex, cross-company programs with high ambiguity, risk, and executive visibility; drive urgency, clarity, and ownership from kickoff to launch and iteration. Turn poorly understood problems into well-structured programs by architecting execution plans, success metrics, and governance that set a high standard for quality and maintainability. Create cross-program roadmaps that span multiple engineering organizations and partner functions; proactively manage dependencies, trade-offs, and risks to deliver scalable outcomes. Demonstrate deep technical acumen to propose, vet, and derisk solutions; facilitate architecture discussions and align technical decisions with business objectives. Partner with VPs and executive leadership to align program goals with company strategy; craft clear, decision-oriented narratives and run effective executive forums. Drive operational excellence through data-driven program management, establishing KPIs/OKRs, reporting cadences, and mechanisms for continuous improvement. Unblock teams by resolving resource gaps, negotiating priorities, and de-escalating conflicts with tact; elevate team efficiency, morale, and capability. Define and scale foundational frameworks, processes, and evaluation criteria that are adopted broadly across TPM, Engineering, and Product teams. Mentor and onboard TPMs across experience levels; model best practices and help the best ideas win—regardless of where they originate. Proactively identify new problem areas with sizable business impact and e ... (truncated, view full listing at source)