Senior Manager, Marketing Decision Science

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.

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Overview

The Marketing Data Science & Analytics (MDSA) team is Instacart's analytical engine for Paid Media, SEO, and Retailer Marketing — partnering with channel leaders, Finance, and senior marketing leadership to ensure every investment dollar is guided by rigorous, causal measurement. The team owns paid channel analytics, incrementality testing, goal-setting and pacing, LTV-based optimization, and a marketing measurement roadmap anchored on Media Mix Modeling, Experiments, LTV & Touchpoints — Instacart's evolving single source of truth for marketing impact.

We're looking for a Senior Manager to lead the Marketing Decision Science team — a group of Decision Scientists embedded across Paid Media, SEO, and Retailer Marketing. This is a high-visibility role with direct exposure to marketing leadership and regular presence in senior forums including MBRs, SBRs, and Pacing Meetings. This role reports to the Director of Marketing Data Science & Analytics.

About the Job

• Lead and develop a team of 5 Decision Scientists and Marketing Analysts, owning their performance, growth, and day-to-day direction — setting and enforcing a high quality bar across all team output
• Own the end-to-end delivery of MDSA's paid marketing analytics workstreams: channel-level goal-setting, pacing, incrementality testing, acquisition and retention analysis, and Retailer Marketing measurement
• Lead the team's contribution to the unified marketing measurement framework - MMM, incrementality testing, LTV, MTA — coordinating MMM inputs, incrementality test organization, and reporting
• Drive re-goaling, rebasing, and scenario modeling exercises that directly inform how Instacart allocates its marketing budget
• Serve as the primary analytical point of contact for senior marketing leadership and Finance — owning those relationships independently and representing MDSA in MBRs, SBRs, and Pacing Meetings
• Define and drive the Marketing Decision Science roadmap in partnership with the Director, translating business priorities into sequenced analytical investments
• Partner with Marketing Data Science on Measurement architecture, LTV modeling, and measurement infrastructure
• Identify opportunities to improve analytical self-serve and reduce recurring reporting burden through tooling and automation
• Build team capacity and coverage plans proactively, including across periods of reduced availability
• Anticipate stakeholder needs and surface proactive insights — not just reactive analysis

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years in data science, analytics, or a quantitative function; 3+ years managing teams of analysts or decision scientists
• Deep expertise in paid marketing measurement: incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, attribution, LTV-based optimization, and channel-level performance analytics
• Strong SQL and data fluency; comfort working directly in data to validate and pressure-test team output
• Proven ability to independently own senior cross-functional relationships and represent a data science function in leadership forums without requiring escalation
• Track record of translating complex analyses into clear investment recommendations for non-technical audiences
• Experience managing and developing Decision Scientists or Marketing Analysts with a high bar for quality and direct feedback delivery

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a consumer-facing marketplace or high-growth technology company
• Familiarity with geo-experimentation, Bayesian methods, or causal inference frameworks
• Experience with LTV-based media optimization and budget allocation modeling
• Background in building or overhauling channel-level reporting and pacing infrastructure

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