Instacart

Senior Applied Scientist II, Ads Optimization

Instacart

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Remote

Location: CaliforniaConnecticutUnited States

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Salary

💰 $201,000 - $253,500 per year

Job Level

Tech Stack

About the role

  • Design and evolve real-time bid optimization systems that translate advertiser goals into optimal auction bids.
  • Build intelligent budget pacing algorithms that distribute spend across time and auction opportunities.
  • Develop analytical frameworks connecting bidding, pacing, and budgeting into a coherent optimization objective.
  • Shape auction mechanics including reserve pricing, multi-slot allocation, and bid-to-price mapping.
  • Own the full research-to-production loop: diagnose system behavior, formulate hypotheses, design experiments, ship code, and measure impact.

Requirements

  • MS or PhD in operations research, applied mathematics, control systems, computational economics, or a related quantitative field.
  • 8+ years of experience building and deploying optimization or control systems in production environments.
  • Strong foundation in feedback control theory, convex and stochastic optimization, auction theory and mechanism design, dynamic programming.
  • Proficiency in Go, Java, C++, and Python for production systems.
Benefits
  • Flexible work arrangements
  • Health insurance
  • Retirement plans
  • Professional development opportunities
  • Stock options
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
GoJavaC++Pythonfeedback control theoryconvex optimizationstochastic optimizationauction theorymechanism designdynamic programming