Researcher - Executive Recruiting

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.

Instacart is a Flex First team

There’s no one-size fits all approach to how we do our best work. Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they do their best work—whether it’s from home, an office, or your favorite coffee shop—while staying connected and building community through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible approach to where we work.

 

Overview

Instacart’s Talent Acquisition team is looking for a strategic, insights-driven Executive Recruiting Researcher to be the intelligence engine behind our most critical leadership hires. You will map executive talent markets, build competitive insights, and surface transformational leaders across Product, Engineering, Operations, Go-to-Market, and G&A who will shape Instacart’s future.

In this role, you will partner closely with Executive Recruiters, People Partners, and hiring executives to define success profiles, calibrate searches, and deliver diverse, high-quality pipelines. Your work will directly influence leadership hiring decisions at a company helping millions of people shop for groceries and enabling hundreds of thousands of shoppers to earn income.

This is a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment. You’ll thrive if you love owning complex problems, iterating quickly based on market feedback, and communicating insights with clarity to VP- and C-suite stakeholders. The role is remote within the United States and Canada.

You’ll gain meaningful exposure to senior leadership, deepen expertise in talent intelligence and organizational design, and help evolve how Instacart makes strategic leadership hiring decisions.

 

About the Job

• Build comprehensive market maps for executive roles across Product, Engineering, Operations, Go-to-Market, and G&A, identifying target companies, org structures, and emerging leadership profiles.
• Develop targeted research strategies per search and create actionable insights reports covering market trends, compensation signals, organizational changes, and diversity benchmarks.
• Source, assess, and deliver high-quality passive executive candidates; craft tailored, compelling outreach that authentically communicates Instacart’s mission and impact.
• Partner closely with Executive Recruiters to calibrate profiles, refine search strategies, and pivot proactively based on market feedback; present research and candidate strategies to VP and C-suite stakeholders.
• Maintain and continuously update executive talent pipelines using structured, repeatable methodologies; uphold rigorous CRM hygiene and documentation within Greenhouse.
• Leverage AI-enabled sourcing platforms and traditional research tools to identify talent efficiently; standardize research templates and search kickoff documentation to drive repeatability and scale.
• Collaborate with People Partners, HRBPs, and hiring executives to ensure alignment on success profiles and organizational context; drive diversity-focused research and slate-generation strategies.

 

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 3-6 years of experience in executive recruiting research, sourcing, or talent intelligence in high-growth tech companies or top-tier executive search firms.
• Proven track record identifying, evaluating, and engaging senior leadership talent across Product, Engineering, Operations, Go-to-Market, and G&A functions.
• Hands-on experience with market mapping, competitive intelligence gathering, and creating structured search documentation and candidate briefs.
• Proficiency with LinkedIn Recruiter and at least one ATS/CRM platform for pipeline management and documentation.
• Exceptional written communication and executive outreach skills, with the ability to engage hard-to-reach senior leaders.
• Strong business acumen and understanding of org design, leadership profiles, and how functions interact in scaling tech environmen