Principal Engineer, Core – Pinner Journeys

Principal Engineer defining Pinterest’s retrieval, ranking, and generative AI architecture. Leading foundational discovery systems across Homefeed, Search, and AI Assistant.

Posted 8/19/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California, Washington • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $242,634 - $449,541 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates deep expertise in large-scale retrieval and ranking systems, large language models, and generative AI, while driving architectural transformations and fostering engineering excellence. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and mentor senior engineers to achieve impactful product outcomes.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Large-Scale Systems ExperienceMachine Learning ExpertisePrincipal Engineer LeadershipArchitectural TransformationExceptional Communication Skills

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Large-Scale RetrievalRanking SystemsRepresentation LearningSearch SystemsLarge Language ModelsGenerative AITechnical Strategy DefinitionSystem DesignCausal InferenceExperimentation Measurement

Soft Skills

MentoringCommunicationProduct IntuitionCollaboration

Certifications & Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science

Industry Keywords

SearchRecommendationsFeedsConversational AIConsumer Discovery ProductsAI AssistantsAgentic Workflows

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define the long-term technical strategy and architecture for Homefeed, Search, and AI Assistant, including retrieval, ranking, personalization, and generative experiences
Drive a multi-year roadmap unifying signals, features, and models across surfaces
Lead large-scale retrieval and ranking system design and adoption
Architect LLM and foundation-model integration with the discovery stack
Set technical direction for experimentation, measurement, evaluation, offline metrics, online experimentation, and causal inference
Provide hands-on technical leadership on high-leverage projects, including component design, design and PR reviews, prototyping, launch risk reduction, and mentoring
Partner with Product, Data Science, Research, and Design on technical plans and long-term platform health
Raise engineering excellence in reliability, performance, security/privacy, cost efficiency, and operational health
Represent Pinterest externally through talks, publications, and partnerships; attract and grow talent
Report to Core Engineering leadership and work across Homefeed, Search, and AI Assistant teams
Drive long-term strategy, standards, and organizational alignment
Deliver durable technical impact through system improvements, model/product outcomes, reduced complexity and operational risk, and leadership growth

Requirements

What you’ll need

15+ years of industry experience in large-scale systems and/or machine learning
Track record of impact in search, recommendations, feeds, or conversational AI
Experience as a Principal Engineer, Architect, or equivalent senior technical leader
Deep expertise in at least two of: large-scale retrieval and ranking; representation learning; search systems; large language models and generative AI
Experience defining and driving multi-year architectural transformations at scale
Strong product intuition and experience partnering with PM, Design, and Data Science on ambiguous 0→1 and 1→N product bets
Exceptional communication skills
Experience mentoring and growing senior/staff engineers and building engineering cultures
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, a related field or equivalent experience
Nice to have: consumer discovery products at global scale
Nice to have: AI assistants or agentic workflows in consumer experiences
US-based applicants only

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equity eligibility
Flexible working model through PinFlex
In-office collaboration 1–2 times per quarter for some teams, allowing work anywhere in the country
Equal opportunity and accommodation support during the application process