Senior Applied Scientist II, Ads Optimization

ABOUT THE ROLE We're seeking a Senior Applied Scientist II to lead the algorithmic direction of our Advertiser Optimization team, responsible for maximizing realized Advertiser Value by deciding when to participate, how much to bid, and how fast to spend in our $1B+ ads business. This role is ideal for someone who thinks in terms of control theory, constrained optimization, and auction economics, and can translate those frameworks into production code that makes millions of decisions per day. WHAT YOU'LL DO As a Senior Applied Scientist II, you will formulate problems from first principles, shape the technical roadmap, and own systems end-to-end from mathematical design through production deployment through impact measurement. Your key responsibilities will include: - Designing and evolving real-time bid optimization systems that translate advertiser goals into optimal auction bids under uncertainty. - Building intelligent budget pacing algorithms that distribute spend across time and auction opportunities. - Developing analytical frameworks that connect bidding, pacing, and budgeting into a coherent optimization objective. - Shaping auction mechanics including reserve pricing, multi-slot allocation, and bid-to-price mapping. - Owning the full research-to-production loop, including diagnosing system behavior, formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, shipping production code, and measuring impact. WHAT YOU'LL NEED To be successful in this role, you will need: - A Master's or Ph.D. 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. - A strong foundation in at least two of: feedback control theory, convex and stochastic optimization, auction theory and mechanism design, dynamic programming. - Proficiency in one of the following languages: Go, Java, C++ for production systems and Python for data analysis and offline pipelines. - Demonstrated ability to translate mathematical formulations into production code that runs at scale. WHY REMOTE Instacart is a Flex First team, which means we offer flexible work arrangements that allow you to choose where you do your best work, whether that's from home, an office, or a coffee shop. We prioritize flexibility and community, and regularly connect with each other through in-person events. BENEFITS Instacart provides highly market-competitive compensation and benefits, including a new hire equity grant and annual refresh grants. The base pay range for this role is dependent on the candidate's permanent work location, and offers may vary based on experience and skills required for the role.