Principal Engineer, AI Platform

Millions of people across the world come to Pinterest to find new ideas every day. It’s where they get inspiration, dream about new possibilities and plan for what matters most. Our mission is to help those people find their inspiration and create a life they love. As a Pinterest employee, you’ll be challenged to take on work that upholds this mission and pushes Pinterest forward.

As a Principal Engineer on the AI Platform team, you’ll help architect the infrastructure that powers both Generative AI and Recommender Systems across Pinterest’s entire product suite. Our team builds the end-to-end engines for petabyte-scale data orchestration, model training and fine-tuning, and high-performance inference, ensuring our models scale seamlessly to hundreds of millions of inferences per second in service of over 600 million monthly active users.

What you’ll do:

• Set the technical vision and roadmap for the Pinterest AI Platform, aligning with business priorities and long-term company strategy.
• Drive cross-functional strategic initiatives that advance our platform capabilities across:
• Generative AI: multimodal data management, post-training, evaluation, and batch/online inference.
• Recommender Systems: feature stores, training infra, and large-scale high performance inference.
• AI-powered tools that automate the user experience across our platforms, connecting every stage of the AI/ML lifecycle to enhance productivity and accelerate development.
• Cultivate a collaborative and inclusive culture where every team member feels welcome and empowered, and provide candid, constructive feedback that accelerates individual and team growth.

What we’re looking for:

• Deep expertise in AI/ML infrastructure and distributed systems: Hands-on experience designing, building, and operating highly available, production-grade systems at large scale; strong technical judgment; and proficiency in at least one of C++, Java, or Rust.
• Proven track record of company-wide impact: Experience leading cross-organizational initiatives, navigating ambiguity, defining technical strategy, influencing architecture decisions, and aligning cross-functional partners and executives around a shared direction.
• Strong ownership and a high engineering bar: Sets and upholds high standards for engineering quality, integrity, and accountability, and takes end-to-end ownership of outcomes.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field.

Relocation Statement: 

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

In-Office Requirement Statement: 

• We recognize that the ideal environment for work is situational and may differ across departments. What this looks like day-to-day can vary based on the needs of each organization or role.
• This role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 1-2 times per quarter and therefore needs to be in a commutable distance from one of the following offices: Palo Alto, CA or San Francisco, CA.

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