Staff Software Engineer, Core Retrieval Infrastructure

Pinterest's Core Retrieval Infrastructure team is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead their large-scale recommendation and search systems. This role is crucial in building and maintaining systems that serve billions of documents and hundreds of millions of users. The position involves working with token retrieval, vector retrieval, hybrid retrieval, and random walk based graph retrieval systems that power Pinterest's core products including HomeFeed, Search, and Shopping.

As a Staff Engineer, you'll be responsible for shaping the technical direction of Pinterest's retrieval systems, ensuring they stay current with industry advancements while meeting emerging product needs. You'll be designing and implementing high-performance systems at scale, driving cross-functional collaboration, and mentoring team members.

Pinterest offers a progressive work model called PinFlex, providing flexibility in how and where you work. While primarily remote, this role requires in-person collaboration 1-2 times every 6 months. The company values diversity and inclusion, offering a competitive compensation package including both base salary and equity.

The role combines technical leadership with hands-on engineering, requiring expertise in large-scale systems, search/recommendation technologies, and team leadership. You'll be working at the intersection of AI, search, and distributed systems, making impactful decisions that affect millions of users' experience on Pinterest.

This is an excellent opportunity for experienced engineers passionate about building scalable infrastructure, interested in recommendation systems, and eager to lead technical initiatives while mentoring others. You'll be part of a company whose mission is to help people find inspiration and create a life they love.