Staff User Researcher - Consumer at Instacart

OVERVIEW

Every year, people across the world spend nearly one trillion dollars on groceries. But food is more than sustenance — it's identity, ritual, culture, and care. The way we eat shapes our health, our routines, and our relationships. Yet for most people, translating a desire to eat better or live healthier into actual, lasting habit change remains hard.

The Instacart Consumer team is at the forefront of reimagining how people relate to food at home. We're building new product experiences around meals, nutrition, and health that go beyond the transaction — helping people discover what to cook, build routines that stick, and feel confident in the choices they make for themselves and their families.

As a Staff Researcher on the Consumer team, you will shape the foundational understanding of how and why people change (or struggle to change) their food behaviors. You'll lead research that spans the full arc from generative discovery to iterative product testing, partnering closely with product, design, data science, marketing, and engineering to build products grounded in deep human insight. This is a high-visibility, high-impact role for a researcher who is as comfortable in the messiness of early-stage innovation as they are in the rigor of quantitative validation.

ABOUT THE JOB

• Independently own and drive the research roadmap for the consumer innovation workstream, partnering across product, design, data science, and engineering leadership to surface where research can shape strategy, unlock new opportunities, and push innovation
• Lead generative, foundational research to understand how people think about food, nutrition, and health — including mental models, motivations, barriers, and behavioral triggers
• Apply behavioral science frameworks (e.g., habit loops, nudge theory, behavior change models) to frame research questions and surface insights that fuel creative problem-solving and unlock new directions for product and design
• Execute and oversee rigorous mixed-methods research: qualitative studies (in-depth interviews, ethnographic observation, diary studies, co-creation) alongside quantitative approaches (surveys, behavioral data analysis, concept testing at scale)
• Translate research into compelling, actionable narratives that move stakeholders to decisions, from early-stage opportunity framing to product launch validation
• Own and evolve the team's understanding of the consumer,  maintaining living knowledge bases, personas, and journey maps that the broader organization draws on
• Mentor junior researchers and contribute to the craft, culture, and standards of the Instacart research organization
• Be a visible advocate for the customer across the organization, influencing roadmap and strategy through the quality and clarity of insights

ABOUT YOU

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years conducting UX or consumer research in a product organization, with meaningful experience in early-stage innovation or new product development
• Background or deep familiarity with behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, or related fields - you understand the science of how habits form, persist, and change, and you bring that lens to your work
• Expertise across a wide range of qualitative methodologies: in-depth interviews, ethnographic and diary studies, usability testing, participatory design, and workshop facilitation
• Equally strong with quantitative methods: survey design and analysis, behavioral data interpretation, experimental design, and synthesis across mixed-methods studies
• Proven ability to lead foundational, generative research — going beyond feature validation to define the opportunity space and shape product strategy
• Exceptional storyteller: you turn nuanced human insight into crisp, compelling narratives that drive alignment and action at all levels of the organization
• Experience working with or alongside data science teams to triangulate behavioral patterns from usage data with qualitative findings
• Track record of influencing product roadmaps, not just informing them — you know how to position research to land with impact
• Fluency using AI tools to accelerate iterative research cycles — from faster synthesis and screener development to rapid concept testing — while maintaining methodological rigor.
• Advanced degree preferred (Psychology, Behavioral Science, Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Anthropology, or a related field); Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in marketplaces, e-commerce, grocery, CPG, or subscription products where lifecycle, personalization, and repeat behavior are critical
• Research experience on high-visibility consumer surfaces such as home feeds, personalized browse, and merchandising placements — including how users navigate density, information hierarchy, and above/below-the-fold content
• Background researching and informing onboarding, activation, and retention journeys that build habits, loyalty, and trust
• Familiarity with AI-powered, agentic, or conversational product experiences and the ability to study how users engage with them — including novel methods for researching AI interactions
• Ability to influence outcomes on multi-team initiatives without direct authority — you know how to build the coalitions that make research land
• Familiarity with meal planning, nutrition, health goals, or dietary restriction management and how they intersect with household grocery behavior

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