Remote opportunity at
InstacartSenior Detection Engineer II
Instacart operates a major grocery technology platform across North America, connecting customers with essential goods and offering earning opportunities for personal shoppers. The company maintains a…
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About This Role
Instacart operates a major grocery technology platform across North America, connecting customers with essential goods and offering earning opportunities for personal shoppers. The company maintains a flexible remote work policy known as Flex First, allowing staff to complete their tasks from home, an office, or other preferred locations while participating in periodic in-person gatherings. The Detection Engineering group sits inside the security division, taking charge of the end-to-end detection lifecycle…
Job Description
Instacart operates a major grocery technology platform across North America, connecting customers with essential goods and offering earning opportunities for personal shoppers. The company maintains a flexible remote work policy known as Flex First, allowing staff to complete their tasks from home, an office, or other preferred locations while participating in periodic in-person gatherings.
The Detection Engineering group sits inside the security division, taking charge of the end-to-end detection lifecycle across cloud-native architectures encompassing SaaS, containers, endpoints, and cloud platforms. As a Senior Detection Engineer II, the professional acts as a key technical contributor by creating robust detection logic, investigating security events, and refining signal quality. This position suits individuals experienced in translating adversary tactics into reliable detection mechanisms who want to advance a growing security infrastructure.
Team members embrace a detection-as-code methodology where all components pass through version control, automated testing, and continuous integration pipelines. Professionals in this role collaborate closely with engineering, incident response, fraud, red team, and trust and safety groups to counter real-world threats efficiently while utilizing automation and SOAR capabilities to minimize alert noise.
Responsibilities
- Build, update, document, and manage detection rules across SaaS, container, endpoint, and cloud environments
- Support cyber forensic analyses utilizing multiple log sources
- Refine log ingestion pipelines and data collection to balance actionable insights with cost and volume management
- Create and implement SOAR playbooks and automated workflows for triage, data enrichment, and incident response
- Mentor junior detection engineers and security analysts regarding investigation methods, detection development, and threat hunting practices
Requirements
- Have at least 6 years of professional background in incident response, offensive security, or detection engineering
- Bring practical experience working with a minimum of one public cloud provider including Azure, GCP, or AWS
- Demonstrate a strong grasp of modern zero trust adversary tactics and techniques such as identity compromise, trust boundary abuse, and token theft
- Show proficient understanding of macOS telemetry and system internals for identifying platform-specific threats
- Demonstrate expertise in detection-as-code workflows covering peer reviews, version control, automated testing, and CI/CD pipelines
- Possess basic programming proficiency in languages such as Python or Golang
Qualifications
- Background in red teaming or offensive security operations
- Familiarity with applying machine learning techniques to threat detection
- Possession of relevant certifications such as GCFA, GCFE, GNFA, GREM, OSCP, GCIA, or similar credentials
Core Skills
Benefits
- Highly market-competitive compensation with base pay determined by permanent geographic work location
- Eligibility for a new hire equity grant
- Eligibility for annual equity refresh grants
- Comprehensive benefit offerings tied to the company employee programs
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this position fully remote?
Yes, the role operates under a remote Flex First approach, allowing employees to choose their workspace while occasionally attending in-person events.
What is the salary range for this role?
Base pay depends on the permanent location. For US candidates, ranges include $230,000 to $242,500 in CA, NY, CT, and NJ; $220,000 to $232,000 in WA; $211,000 to $222,500 in several specified states and DC; and $192,000 to $202,500 in all other states.
What level of experience is required?
Candidates must have six or more years of experience working in detection engineering, incident response, or offensive security.
Are equity grants included?
Yes, this position is eligible for both a new hire equity grant and annual equity refresh grants.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.
