Today we’re giving you a peek inside Instagram New York (IGNY), which is a major engineering, product and partnerships hub for us. At IGNY, teams are working on high-impact products like Home (Feed and Comments), Discovery (Search and Explore), and Shopping, which help bring the Instagram community closer to the people and things they love. As one of our three full-stack offices, IGNY has engineering teams covering iOS, Android, and server, along with diverse talent across product management, design, research, data engineering and analytics. It's no surprise that IGNY is also home to teams working on machine learning, which is core to most of Instagram’s products. In fact, machine learning at Instagram actually started in IGNY.

Our New York office is growing fast: one-third of the entire Engineering team is located here. To keep up with this growth, we recently expanded and redesigned our office, located in Astor Place in the historic Wanamaker's department store building. The beautiful space perfectly captures the spirit of Instagram, with plenty of Instagrammable visuals like photography and video exhibits, our Digital Greeting Wall, which features curated Stories and feed content from people around the globe, and a gelato bar. There’s also several indoor and outdoor areas designed to inspire craft and self-expression.

IGNY is a key growth area for us, and we’re continuing to expand our team. To get a better sense of what people can expect from working at IGNY, we sat down with a few team members to hear their experiences firsthand.

“I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to New York for a new role with Instagram over three years ago, and was one of the first engineers to join the team here. I began immediately working on an area I love to explore, machine learning. We were building the infrastructure for organizing people’s Instagram Feed and how to prioritize the order in which posts show up. Our algorithm was eventually used for the launch of Instagram Stories, which was incredibly rewarding.

The best part about working at Instagram is definitely the creative freedom we’re given. Instagram asserts a culture of autonomy, where you’re able to explore your own ideas and test your limits. My title is Research Scientist, but I like to look at my role as an open-ended question. I often come across things that need a solution, and will decide to take it on as my own project, which is always encouraged. That keeps me going every day. I also have to acknowledge how great the Instagram New York office is; the people here are so diverse and brilliant, and the city is amazing. Plus, the gelato bar is pretty nice too.” —Taylor G., Research Scientist

“As a Technical Program Manager for Instagram, I build the underlying infrastructure that supports machine learning, and partner with teams to show them how machine learning can improve their products. I started as a TPM at Facebook in the Menlo Park office, and moved to Instagram New York about two-and-a-half years ago to help grow our office here. Working as a steward to maintain the Instagram culture as we grow has been important to me. As part of that, I help out a lot with recruiting and mentoring young women in tech. I’m involved in our Circles program, where new interns and graduates are matched with a senior woman to make sure they have a sounding board outside their team.

At Instagram, I get to carve out my domain and go deep in infrastructure and machine learning. The breadth of opportunity here is huge. There are still a lot of interesting problems to solve, and challenges in tackling machine learning outside of the academic space. We’ve started to scratch the surface but there’s a lot more to do, and I’m excited to tackle that with my team.” —Angelica E., Technical Program Manager

“I manage a team of researchers based in the Instagram New York office who advocate for the needs of our global community. We learn about people’s experiences on Instagram by observing and listening to research participants, and identifying opportunities to help our teams improve the product and build new features. This work is incredibly important to me, especially as a woman of color. Every member of our community should feel seen and heard, and should have an experience that’s authentic to them. As part of the Discovery Research team, we’re working to connect people with interests beyond friends and family. There’s a real opportunity for social media to surface content that’s unique to the interests and experiences of the underrepresented—those whose voices and experiences are often overlooked within traditional forms of mainstream media, whether it’s successfully finding natural haircare images or raising awareness for issues as serious as police brutality.

Instagram doesn’t shy away from innovation, but we are constantly thinking about our community first. Many tech companies tend to focus first on the product and think about the people using it after the fact. Here, there is a ‘round-the-clock passion and dedication to giving people the best experience possible. And there’s such a strong sense of community among employees at Instagram, especially in New York. People from different teams are just a quick walk or elevator ride away, and everyone is encouraged to express their point of view, no matter their tenure or their relationship with those in the room. Our mission is important to me, and people here live it. From the moment I had my first interview, to today, I’m touched by how everyone at Instagram truly wants to connect our community to the people and things they love.” —Alisha A., Research Manager, Discovery at Instagram