Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Pinterest is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to support Growth Content Science by building complex models and systems that power notification content ranking within a real-time, production environment. The role combines technical leadership, operational ownership of an ML ecosystem, and setting the direction for model and infrastructure improvements.

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple technical sub-areas within Growth content science with effective execution and follow-through.
• Improve Growth ML models through an AB test-driven innovation loop, spanning ideation through production launches.
• Own the health of the ML ecosystem, including training pipelines, feature and serving infrastructure, evaluation frameworks and monitoring, and AB test setup.
• Raise the technical excellence bar through mentorship, reviews, evaluations, documentation, and standard setting.
• Collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders to address large initiatives across functions.
• Partner with other engineering leaders to define technical directions and roadmaps.
• Operate autonomously in complex and evolving environments, taking ownership and driving work to completion.
• Identify and apply state-of-the-art techniques from recent research, and collaborate on novel research directions.
• Continuously optimize parts of the workflow by building and using cutting-edge AI tools.

Requirements

• Graduate degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in machine learning engineering, including hands-on experience building and shipping models for a large-scale, real-time, end-user production recommender system.
• Expertise in recommender modeling, including sequence modeling of user behavior using transformer architectures, DNN rankers, and generative and LLM-native recommenders.
• Experience building and operating high-QPS, latency-constrained ML systems, including training and serving infrastructure, with ownership of cost, latency, and reliability tradeoffs.
• Industry-grade software engineering experience, with a demonstrated practice of thorough code and design reviews that improve team quality.
• Understanding of content personalization and content quality as a single problem, including how cold-start and low-signal users affect standard rankers.
• Experience leading technical work across teams, making timely decisions on difficult tradeoffs, and prioritizing user experience and system health when risks arise.
• Experience mentoring junior engineers.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, particularly in cross-functional settings.
• Demonstrated experience applying AI to improve speed and quality in applied research.
• Strong track record of publications and patents.

Location

San Francisco, CA (onsite)

Salary

USD 189,308 - 389,753 per year

In-Office Requirement

• Pinterest recognizes that the ideal work environment can vary by department, role, and operational needs.
• This role requires in-office presence for in-person collaboration 1-2 times per quarter, and can be situated anywhere in the country.

Relocation

• This position is not eligible for relocation assistance.
• Visit the PinFlex page to learn more about the working model.

Inclusion Commitment

• Pinterest is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions based on merit.
• All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to protected characteristics, including race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by law.
• Pinterest also considers qualified applicants regardless of criminal history, consistent with legal requirements.
• If you need a medical or religious accommodation during the application process, complete the provided form for support.