Principal Product Designer

Every year, people across the world spend nearly one trillion dollars on groceries. It’s an industry that’s been around for centuries. Food itself, however, has been a constant in people’s lives since the beginning of time. Yes, sustenance is essential, but it’s also much more than that. Food can be a part of a daily ritual or a special moment that resonates with people on a meaningful and emotional level. It can be a much-needed break in a long day, a taste that brings back memories, a creative experiment, a shared meal with loved ones, or even comfort during a hard time. Whether it’s a special occasion or an everyday occurrence, it should always be easy for people to get the ingredients they need.

The Instacart Design Team is dedicated to making grocery shopping effortless for everyone and finding solutions to large-scale opportunities that will forever change the way people feed themselves and their loved ones.

We’re seeking a highly motivated, talented and engaged design leader to help inspire through world-class Design execution. They will be responsible for guiding our teams in delivering easy, emotive and effective digital experiences that allow our Customers, Shoppers, Brands and Retailers to accomplish their goals. This individual will partner with cross-functional senior leaders to envision, design, define, validate and deliver digital experiences that are cohesive, effortless, intuitive and delightful.  

This candidate should have a deep passion for storytelling, digital culture, social connectivity, customer behavior, data-informed design and the experience working with diverse teams and incubating new concepts. They must have a passion for leading-by-doing – inspiring teams of talented and multi discipline creators, championing quality, creating energy, and nurturing the design culture in the Studio. They must have a clear understanding of each phase of the design process: information architecture + interaction design, research + usability, rapid prototyping, visual + motion design, brand integration and content creation.  

Detailed responsibilities will include:

• Lead with clarity and vision, driving successful execution of design across all product experiences at Instacart including our design system, Consumer app, Shopper ecosystem, Retailer platform and Brand advertising. 
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams (Engineering, Design, Product, Brand and Marketing) across Instacart from creative concepting through to final deliverables.
• Cultivate customer obsession into our product thinking and making, acting as the voice of the customer in all efforts; building and championing inclusive experiences all our customers will love.
• Be the storyteller who inspires teams with a product vision that guides the team forward.
• Advocate for the Design vision and ensure the product direction is aligned with business needs.
• Facilitate experiential learning and grow the design team EQ & IQ, stimulating the design culture across the team to be curious, creative and inclusive.
• Partner with our Instacart Design System team to support the evolution of style guides, visual design languages, interaction patterns and information design standards. 
• Work with user researchers to coordinate testing efforts, interpret test results, and incorporate results into design efforts.

The candidate should have experience designing innovative consumer software experiences, have extensive knowledge of modern UX paradigms and have demonstrable experience in designing experiences with multiple end-user archetypes. A history designing widely-used consumer software is required and the candidate must have demonstrated ability to effectively partner with Senior Management, Design, Research, Product, Data Science, Engineering, and Content Design to shepherd new opportunities, create and test directions, and deliver holistic solutions that are impactful, usable, and lovable. The ideal candidate must also be a great creator, collaborator, communicator and coach. This Design team is as diverse as it is talented and this candidate will inspire to get the best from them.

• You have 15+ years of experience as a Product/UX Designer in a relevant industry.
• You love fast-paced environments.
• You are deeply curious and think of your role very broadly.
• You are a design generalist who can drive the process end-to-end.
• You are a product person who thinks deeply about business and product challenges.
• You are detail-oriented while being able to see the big picture.
• You can move fluidly between long-term vision and near-term execution.
• You have been a thought leader across many cross-functional teams.
• You are an excellent storyteller and communicator.
• You are self-aware.
• You have strong case studies showcasing your end-to-end process from problem definition to final solution as well as the impact on users and the business.