Machine Learning Engineer, PhD Intern at Instacart in Remote

Summary: Instacart is transforming the grocery industry by making grocery delivery convenient, affordable, and accessible. They are seeking talented Ph.D. students to join their machine learning teams and work on high-impact problems at the intersection of LLM research, large-scale ML systems, and real-world e-commerce applications. Responsibilities: - Using cutting-edge AI and LLM-based techniques to understand user intent, refine queries, and support downstream retrieval and ranking - Improving search relevance by incorporating signals from user behavior, catalog knowledge, and generative models, including hybrid retrieval and ranking systems - Pushing the boundaries of where generative and traditional models intersect across retrieval and ranking systems; developing scalable feedback and reward modeling approaches for closed-loop learning (RFT) - Building LLM-based evaluation frameworks (e.g., LLM-as-a-Judge, self-critique) to improve the quality and reliability of generative and agentic systems - Researching techniques to deploy LLMs in high-traffic, latency-sensitive production environments, balancing quality, cost, and latency through cascading, distillation, and selective generation - Working on graph data management and knowledge discovery over one of the world’s largest grocery catalogs, and integrating structured knowledge with LLM-based reasoning and natural language interfaces - Building temporal models for user behavior prediction Required Qualifications: - Ph.D. student in computer science, mathematics, statistics, economics, or related areas - Strong programming (Python, Golang) and algorithmic skills - Solid foundations in machine learning, algorithms, or optimization - Curious, self-motivated, and comfortable working on open-ended problems Preferred Qualifications: - Ph.D. student at a top tier university in the United States - Hands-on experience with generative or traditional modeling frameworks (PyTorch, Tensorflow, vLLM) - Prior industry or research internship in machine learning or AI - Interest and experience in translating research ideas into scalable production systems Required Skills: Python, Golang, Machine Learning, Algorithms, Optimization, Generative Modeling Frameworks, Traditional Modeling Frameworks, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Large Language Models, LLM Evaluation, Knowledge Graphs, Sequence Modeling, Curiosity