About this role.
Instacart is seeking a Senior Product Manager to own the Ads Quality domain, focusing on auction mechanics, marketplace balance, and ad ranking signals. This role sits at the intersection of machine learning and marketplace dynamics, driving strategy for experimentation and measurable outcomes. The ideal candidate has deep experience in online advertising and ML-driven products, and thrives in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment. You'll partner closely with ML and ads engineers to shape the future of retail media. Instacart offers a flexible work model, allowing you to choose your workspace while staying connected through in-person events.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
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5/5Autonomy Level
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5/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Cover letter sample
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am writing to express my interest in the Senior Product Manager, Ads Quality role at Instacart. With over 5 years of experience in online advertising and ML-driven products, I have a proven track record of driving marketplace balance and experimentation velocity. At my previous role, I led the development of auction mechanics that improved advertiser ROI by 20% while maintaining shopper experience.
My expertise in translating complex ML outputs into product requirements aligns perfectly with this role. I am excited about the opportunity to work at the intersection of machine learning and marketplace dynamics to shape the future of retail media. I look forward to contributing to Instacart’s mission of bringing love through food.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Sample interview questions
I would design an experimentation framework that includes clear hypothesis templates, pre-defined success metrics, and automated A/B testing pipelines. By reducing setup time and using sequential testing methods, we can increase iteration speed while maintaining statistical validity.
At my previous company, we had a metric for ad relevance that impacted user satisfaction. I led a cross-functional team to implement a quality score that weighted user engagement signals. This improved both advertiser ROI and user retention by optimizing for long-term value rather than immediate clicks.
I regularly read industry blogs like AdExchanger and Google AI Blog, attend conferences like AdTech World, and participate in internal knowledge-sharing sessions. I also apply learnings by running small-scale experiments to test new ideas.
Key metrics include advertiser ROI, fill rate, user engagement with ads, and revenue per session. I would also monitor distribution of ad impressions across advertisers to ensure no single buyer dominates. Balancing these metrics is crucial for long-term marketplace stability.
I scheduled weekly syncs with the ML team, created a shared glossary of terms, and used mockups to illustrate expected behavior. When we launched a new ranking model, I facilitated user acceptance testing to validate the output, which helped catch edge cases early.
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 Ads powers one of the industry’s leading retail media networks, enabling Instacart and its retailer partners to deliver highly relevant, effective advertising experiences at scale. As part of the Ad Product team, you’ll sit at the intersection of machine learning, marketplace dynamics, and measurable business impact — helping shape the future of how brands connect with shoppers across the Instacart platform.
We’re looking for a Senior Product Manager to own the systems that drive core auction understanding and marketplace balance within our Ads Quality domain. This is a high-impact, technically complex space where your work will directly influence the health of the ads ecosystem — from how auctions are structured and optimized to how quality signals inform ranking and relevance. You’ll partner closely with a team of talented machine learning engineers and ads engineers who are building at the frontier of what’s possible in retail media.
If you’re energized by ambiguous, high-stakes problems, fluent in the language of ML and online advertising, and eager to accelerate experimentation in a fast-moving environment — this is the role for you.
About the Job
- Own the product vision and roadmap for ads quality systems, including auction mechanics, marketplace balance, and the signals that govern ad ranking and relevance across Instacart’s retail media network.
- Drive the strategy and execution for increasing the velocity of experimentation across the ads quality team — designing frameworks that allow the team to test, learn, and iterate faster without sacrificing rigor or integrity.
- Work hands-on with machine learning engineers and ads engineers to translate complex ML model outputs and auction dynamics into clear product requirements, hypotheses, and measurable outcomes.
- Define and track the right success metrics for ads quality, navigating tradeoffs between advertiser performance, shopper experience, and marketplace health — and communicating those tradeoffs clearly to senior stakeholders.
- Operate in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment where priorities shift, new data surfaces frequently, and the ability to make good decisions under uncertainty is essential to moving the business forward.
About You
Minimum Qualifications
- 2+ years of product management experience in online advertising, ad tech, or a closely related domain — with a demonstrated understanding of auction mechanics, bidding systems, or ad quality signals.
- 2+ years of experience working directly with machine learning teams or ML-driven products, with the ability to engage substantively in technical conversations about model design, evaluation, and tradeoffs.
- Proven track record of defining and executing on product roadmaps in complex, data-rich environments with multiple cross-functional stakeholders.
- Strong analytical skills with experience using data to inform product decisions, measure impact, and design experiments.
Preferred Qualifications
- Hands-on familiarity with large language models (LLMs) and how they can be applied within ads or ranking systems.
- Experience working with ads machine learning models in a production environment, including relevance scoring, auction optimization, or quality filtering.
- Prior experience at a retail media network, demand-side platform, or supply-side platform, with exposure to the full advertising stack.
- Comfort operating in ambiguous, high-growth environments where structure and process are still being built — and an eagerness to help build them.
#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. Currently, we are only hiring in the following provinces: Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.
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 Canadian based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below.
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