Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Response Prediction at Instacart

Department: Machine Learning

Language

Compensation

CA$180,000 – CA$190,000/yr

Setup: Remote
Location: Abbotsford, British Columbia
Type: Full-time
Level: senior
Posted: Sep 15, 2026

Description

Instacart is hiring a Senior Machine Learning Engineer for its Ads Response Prediction team to develop and research pCTR and conversion prediction models. The role focuses on debiasing, calibration, multi-task and sequence modeling, foundation models, and generative retrieval systems, with strong MLOps support. Candidates need a master's or PhD in a relevant quantitative field, at least three years of combined academic and industry experience, and expertise in Python, deep learning, causal inference, and large-scale prediction. The role is remote and currently available in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, with a Canadian base pay range of $180,000–$190,000 CAD.

Required Skills

pCTR modeling
Causal inference
Counterfactual reasoning
Python
PyTorch
Tensorflow
JAX
SQL
Spark
Pandas
Multi-task learning
Sequence modeling
Generative retrieval
Foundation models

Additional Information

Minimum Education: Master's or PhD in machine learning, statistics, computer science, information retrieval, or a closely related quantitative field, or equivalent experience
Required Previous Experiences: At least 3 years of combined academic and industry experience applying machine learning to ranking, recommendation, or prediction problems at scale
Experience formulating ambiguous problems into well-scoped machine learning research directions and delivering results through rigorous experimentation
Preferred Qualifications: Experience in ads ranking or auction-based systems
Experience with autoregressive sequence models, generative retrieval, or transformer-based ranking architectures
Familiarity with learned representations such as Semantic IDs and product embeddings
Experience with transfer learning or domain adaptation techniques
Publication record in top-tier machine learning venues
Familiarity with LLM-driven recommendation approaches
Translation Company Name: Instacart