Partner Ops Excellence Manager I, Connected Store

 Overview

About the Role

As a Manager in  Operations Excellence, you will play a pivotal role in driving operational success across Instacart’s retail partners. You’ll serve as both an internal and external expert, ensuring our fulfillment and in-store technologies are seamlessly integrated into retailers’ operations to deliver a best-in-class customer and associate experience.

In this role, you’ll collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to provide operational insights during the launch of new retailers and the rollout of new tools for retailers using our Caper Cart. Externally, you’ll partner with retailers to assess their operational landscape and identify performance opportunities. You’ll influence retailer success by driving engagement, ensuring metric-driven stabilization, and facilitating specific initiatives to optimize operations outside of existing playbooks. 

This position requires a proactive, strategic mindset, adaptability to changing conditions, and strong client relationship skills. Your efforts will directly contribute to transforming retail operations, elevating performance across Instacart’s technology and product lines.

About the Team 

You’ll be joining the Retail Ops Excellence (ROE) team, a driving force behind operational success for Instacart’s retail partners using our Caper Carts. The ROE team is instrumental in scaling in-store technology and fulfillment solutions to unlock growth, optimize efficiency, and enhance the in-store experience for both customers and associates. As the retailer management arm of ROE, the Partner Ops Excellence team partners with retailers to deliver strategic guidance, helping them balance growth, quality, and operational excellence for their instacart Caper Programs.

This role will be focused on Connected Stores, specifically Caper, our smart shopping cart offering using deep learning and computer vision for a seamless grab-and-go retail experience. Our plug-and-play solution needs no store renovations; retailers simply buy the carts to gain cashierless capabilities. Caper, a fast-growing retail automation product, costs less than 1% of competitors’ infrastructure and is widely adopted. Our cross-functional team solves problems our customers love.

About the Job

• Retailer Partnership and Optimization: Serve as a strategic advisor to retailers using our technology, working closely with corporate ops and store teams to develop operational solutions that maximize success while ensuring sustainable operations.
• 0-1 Solutioning: Identify and respond to performance gaps by crafting innovative, from-scratch solutions that drive operational excellence. Your insights will be critical in shaping retailer success through customized strategies.
• Strategic Collaboration: Work cross-functionally with internal teams, serving as the internal expert on retailer needs. Your expertise will guide the development of solutions that support retailers in maximizing technology usage while balancing growth, quality, and sustainability.
• External Stakeholder Engagement: Play an external-facing role, actively building operational buy-in from retail partners. Your ability to foster strong relationships will be key in driving alignment and execution across retail environments.
• Travel and Flexibility: Expect up to 50% travel to support retail partners during critical phases of pilot,  launch and implementation of processes. Flexibility will be essential as you work on-site to understand operations, provide direct support, and maintain strong external relationships.
• Shape Future Implementations: Collaborate with program management to refine, develop, and scale best practices for deployment and implementation strategies, ensuring a seamless experience for retailers and enhancing our overall service offering.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in operations, retail, account management, or a related field
• Experience managing internal and external stakeholders. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills including real-time support and trouble-shooting. 
• Ability to support and manage partners: you can manage key relationships and maintain a strong, mutually-beneficial partnership with Instacart’s top retailers. 
• Sense of ownership and attention to detail: if Caper Cart usage is down at a particular pilot store and the metrics aren’t clear, you go to the store to pair in-person insights with the data. 
• Comfort in data and analytics: you can review a set of key metrics and know the actions you need to take to drive improvement. 
• Flexible and resourceful: you know the perfect solution may not be immediately available, but you are energized by finding short-term answers and building towards sustainable long-term solutions. 
• Positive and energetic attitude: Capable of thriving in demanding environments; even the most demanding stakeholders can’t get you down, you can keep a smile and a hard-working attitude through the most demanding moments. 
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Experienced in G Suite, MS Office, SQL strongly preferred.
• Experience in e-commerce or grocery.