Product Counsel

Why this role is on the menu

Instacart’s product portfolio is expanding rapidly into new international markets, physical hardware like Caper carts, and retailer-facing platforms like Storefront Pro all in addition to Instacart’s core business. These initiatives need a strategic legal partner embedded with development teams from the start — someone who can understand the business objectives, identify key legal risks early, and find creative ways to maintain product momentum while managing those risks. We’re hiring a Product Counsel to serve as that partner, guiding teams through complex and evolving regulatory landscapes with creative solutions that help achieve business objectives. This role sits at the intersection of law, technology, and e-commerce, and the person who fills it will have a direct impact on how Instacart’s most ambitious bets come to life.

What you’ll cook up in your first year

• Product teams launching new products have a trusted legal partner who accelerates development by identifying jurisdiction-specific risks early and by building scalable compliance frameworks that don’t need to be rebuilt for each new initiative.
• Product initiatives ship with confidence because you’ve worked alongside product, engineering, and design to find creative, practical solutions that address the legal issues these initiatives raise.
• Cross-functional legal processes are measurably more efficient because you’ve identified leverage points, introduced AI-assisted workflows, and reduced time-to-answer for recurring legal questions across Product, BD, and Operations.
• Instacart’s exposure across consumer protection, payments, privacy, and commercial compliance is well-mapped and proactively managed, with documented risk frameworks and clear escalation paths.
• Business partners across the company describe Legal as the team that identifies critical risks early and helps them get ambitious ideas across the finish line — and you’re the reason why.

The secret ingredients we’re looking for

Must-have pantry staples (Minimum Qualifications)

• J.D. from a top-tier law school with active bar membership in at least one U.S. state
• 5+ years of legal experience at a leading law firm or in-house legal department
• Familiarity with legal issues in Internet and e-commerce spaces (commercial, copyright, privacy, advertising, payments, SaaS)
• A creative, business-minded approach to legal problem-solving and the ability to find practical paths forward on novel issues while working within product constraints
• Ability to provide clear, concise legal advice and drive results cross-functionally
• Proven ability to independently manage competing priorities across multiple teams in a fast-paced environment
• Comfort working with AI tools to drive efficiency and streamline legal processes

Optional garnishes (Preferred Qualifications)

• In-house experience at a tech company or retailer, directly or via secondment
• Experience with technology platforms
• Background in antitrust, consumer protection, platform businesses or privacy/data security law (including GDPR and US-EU Privacy Shield)

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