Instacart

Staff Software Engineer Interview Experience - Denver, Colorado

March 24, 2026

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

The process was three LeetCode interviews, one system design interview, and one behavioral interview.

LeetCode: There were hard problems, and the interviewers didn't provide guidance once the exercise started. No AI coding tools were allowed.
System Design: It was of average difficulty.

Questions

Why are you applying to Instacart?

Was this helpful?

Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Instacart Staff Software Engineer role in Denver, Colorado.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Instacart's interview process for their Staff Software Engineer roles in Denver, Colorado is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral100%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Instacart's Staff Software Engineer interview process in Denver, Colorado.

Instacart Work Experiences

Good work-life balance, but unclear project direction

Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

October 22, 2026

Pros: Great work-life balance and nice peers.

Cons: The work was ambiguous, they were unserious about AI, and I was not sure what their project was going to be.

Good work-life balance, but unclear project direction

Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

October 22, 2026

Pros: Great work-life balance and nice peers.

Cons: The work was ambiguous, they were unserious about AI, and I was not sure what their project was going to be.

Great place to work

Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, California, United States

Pros: Fast-paced, tons of learning, great coworkers.

Cons: You have to be your own advocate for WLB. It can be frustrating to be constantly moving from one project to the next.

Great place to work

Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, California, United States

Pros: Fast-paced, tons of learning, great coworkers.

Cons: You have to be your own advocate for WLB. It can be frustrating to be constantly moving from one project to the next.

Good remote culture but high turnover and issues

Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

Pros: When I was there, the culture was pretty good, and they were an all-remote company. Fidji Simo as CEO was also a big improvement over the prior one.

Cons: High turnover. Many executives left (including Fidji). Stock price has flat-lined. Difficult business. Customer backlash over hidden and excessive fees.

Good remote culture but high turnover and issues

Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

Pros: When I was there, the culture was pretty good, and they were an all-remote company. Fidji Simo as CEO was also a big improvement over the prior one.

Cons: High turnover. Many executives left (including Fidji). Stock price has flat-lined. Difficult business. Customer backlash over hidden and excessive fees.

Good work-life balance, but unclear project direction

Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

October 22, 2026

Pros: Great work-life balance and nice peers.

Cons: The work was ambiguous, they were unserious about AI, and I was not sure what their project was going to be.

4.0
Good work-life balance, but unclear project direction
Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee
San Francisco, CA
October 22, 2026
Pros: Great work-life balance and nice peers.
Cons: The work was ambiguous, they were unserious about AI, and I was not sure what their project was going to be.

Great place to work

Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, California, United States

Pros: Fast-paced, tons of learning, great coworkers.

Cons: You have to be your own advocate for WLB. It can be frustrating to be constantly moving from one project to the next.

5.0
Great place to work
Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
April 5, 2022
Pros: Fast-paced, tons of learning, great coworkers.
Cons: You have to be your own advocate for WLB. It can be frustrating to be constantly moving from one project to the next.

Good remote culture but high turnover and issues

Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee

San Francisco, CA

Pros: When I was there, the culture was pretty good, and they were an all-remote company. Fidji Simo as CEO was also a big improvement over the prior one.

Cons: High turnover. Many executives left (including Fidji). Stock price has flat-lined. Difficult business. Customer backlash over hidden and excessive fees.

3.0
Good remote culture but high turnover and issues
Staff Software Engineer • Former Employee
San Francisco, CA
June 15, 2026
Pros: When I was there, the culture was pretty good, and they were an all-remote company. Fidji Simo as CEO was also a big improvement over the prior one.
Cons: High turnover. Many executives left (including Fidji). Stock price has flat-lined. Difficult business. Customer backlash over hidden and excessive fees.

Instacart Interview Questions

Average Waiting Time

You're given a list of customer arrival and service times. Calculate the average waiting time for all customers, assuming they are served in the order they arrive.

Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array

Given a sorted array, find the first and last position of a given target value. If the target is not found, return [-1, -1].

ArraysBinary Search

Check if Every Row and Column Contains All Numbers

Determine if every row and every column in a given square matrix contains all the numbers from 1 to n, where n is the size of the matrix. Effectively, check if it's a valid Sudoku (without subgrids).

Copyright © Taro