Staff Technical Program Manager

Overview

This role offers a unique opportunity to lead Instacart’s most complex, high-visibility, and strategically important programs at the intersection of technical strategy and execution. As a Staff Technical Program Manager, you will define program strategy, architect execution approaches for ambiguous and cross-cutting initiatives, and partner with executives to deliver outcomes that shape the future of our products, platform, and 4-sided marketplace.

You will join our Technical Program Management team within Engineering, a trusted group that brings Product, Engineering, Data Science, Design, and Business partners together to solve big problems. We’re a hands-on, highly collaborative team that rolls up our sleeves to drive alignment, unravel dependencies, and raise the bar for operational excellence across the company. The immediate TPM team consists of 12 TPMs within a broader 25-person TPM organization, providing a deep bench of peers for thought partnership and mentorship.

A key focus for this role is to evolve our global enterprise fulfillment platform—building on the capabilities and client base brought together through the Instaleap acquisition—to deliver a unified, international offering for retailers across North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. If you thrive in fast-paced environments, love turning ambiguity into clarity, and are excited to drive impact across an international, multi-product platform, we’d love to meet you.

About the Job

• Lead the strategy, definition, and high-quality execution of company-wide programs with high ambiguity, complexity, risk, and executive visibility—owning results end to end.
• Transform poorly understood problems into well-structured, cross-functional programs; architect scalable execution plans and operating mechanisms that set the standard for quality and efficiency.
• Drive deep technical alignment across Engineering and Product—proposing, vetting, influencing, and de-risking architectural decisions and implementation plans at org leadership level.
• Generate and maintain cross-program roadmaps that coordinate multiple teams and workstreams; proactively identify dependencies, risks, and tradeoffs to keep delivery on track.
• Partner closely with VPs and executive leadership to align program goals to business strategy; craft clear narratives and decision frameworks that accelerate outcomes.
• Elevate team performance by identifying systemic gaps, proposing pragmatic alternatives, and modeling solutions that improve efficiency, quality, and maintainability.
• Establish and evolve program frameworks, processes, and evaluation criteria that become reusable standards adopted broadly across the organization.
• Mentor and onboard TPMs at varying levels; foster a culture where the best ideas win, conflicts are de-escalated constructively, and teams communicate with clarity and empathy.
• Lead integration of enterprise fulfillment, picking, delivery orchestration, and marketplace capabilities into a cohesive global platform; define phased roadmaps spanning discovery, gap analysis, and platform evolution.
• Serve as connective tissue between Instacart’s North America-based engineering organization and Instaleap’s Bogotá-based teams—coordinating across time zones, languages, and cultures to maintain alignment and momentum.
• Ensure continuity for nearly 100 existing international retail partners during integration, enabling cross-sell opportunities and zero disruption to live operations.
• Partner with engineering leadership to structure cross-team collaboration models, including tech lead identification, mentor pairing, and hands-on ramp projects across the combined organization.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of post-graduation experience in technology as a Technical Program Manager, Engineering Manager, Product Manager, or similar technical role
• Fluency in Spanish
• Proven track record leading end-to-end, company-wide programs of high complexity and ambiguity across multiple engineering organizations and cross-functional partners.
• Demonstrated ability to create program structures and cross-program roadmaps; skilled at building execution plans and operating cadences tailored to program needs.
• Deep technical domain knowledge enabling you to influence architectural decisions, de-risk complex technical choices, and guide implementation at org leadership level.
• Exceptional communication skills, including building executive-level narratives and presenting to VP and C-suite audiences; adept at tailoring messages by audience and context.
• Data-driven decision maker with a strong strategic mindset—able to define paths forward for ambiguous problems and identify new, high-impact problem areas.
• Experience driving continuous improvement in processes, metrics, and program design; known for setting a high operational bar that others model.
• Fluent in Spanish (spoken and written) with daily collaboration experience across Spanish-speaking engineering, product, and commercial teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in a technology or engineering discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a technology or engineering discipline.
• Experience leading programs with active VP/C-suite engagement where outcomes directly influence company strategy and business results.
• History of defining foundational, reusable program frameworks, tools, and processes adopted across large organizations.
• Experience with AI/ML programs or demonstrated fluency applying AI to program management and engineering workflows.
• Background in marketplace, e-commerce, or logistics technology, with familiarity in fulfillment, picking, delivery orchestration, or last-mile logistics.
• Experience leading large-scale platform integration programs and coordinating distributed, multi-country engineering teams (e.g., across Latin America and Europe).