Demo

Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Search

Pinterest
San Francisco, CA Full Time
POSTED ON 1/2/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 2/1/2026
About Pinterest

Millions of people around the world come to our platform to find creative ideas, dream about new possibilities and plan for memories that will last a lifetime. At Pinterest, we’re on a mission to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love, and that starts with the people behind the product.

Discover a career where you ignite innovation for millions, transform passion into growth opportunities, celebrate each other’s unique experiences and embrace the flexibility to do your best work. Creating a career you love? It’s Possible.

Pinterest helps Pinners discover and do what they love. At the core of this discovery experience is Pinterest search. The Search Quality team is focused on making Pinterest search fast, personalized, and relevant for the billions of monthly searches. We seek a Tech Lead for ranking who can drive cross-team engineering efforts to deliver ML-driven product experiences to our Pinners. This role offers the opportunity to work on innovative projects, build large-scale low-latency systems and state-of-the-art machine learning models, and significantly impact our Pinners and business metrics.

What You'll Do

  • Build foundational models to do semantic search relevance.
  • Work with teams responsible for search full-stack to improve relevance at each stage.
  • Develop relevance focused signals (e.g. VLM based embeddings) that can be used in multiple models across the search stack.
  • Contribute towards the strategic vision and technical direction of highly visible initiatives.
  • Mentor a team of 5 engineers.
  • Work cross functionally with adjacent teams to drive cohesive modeling across the business.


What We're Looking For

  • Languages: Python, Java.
  • Machine Learning: PyTorch, TensorFlow.
  • Big data processing: Spark, Hive, MapReduce.
  • Experience with search and in particular semantic relevance modeling (Preferred).
  • Hands on experience leveraging LLMs and VLMs to drive product impact.
  • Strong modeling skills and experience working on problems like online/offline bias, scaling models, etc.
  • Experience with large scale systems.
  • Exposure to Generative AI models.
  • Bachelors degree in a relevant field such as computer science, or equivalent experience


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 let the type of work you do guide the collaboration style. That means we're not always working in an office, but we continue to gather for key moments of collaboration and connection.
  • This role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 1-2 times/quarter and therefore can be situated anywhere in the country.


At Pinterest we believe the workplace should be equitable, inclusive, and inspiring for every employee. In an effort to provide greater transparency, we are sharing the base salary range for this position. The position is also eligible for equity. Final salary is based on a number of factors including location, travel, relevant prior experience, or particular skills and expertise.

Information regarding the culture at Pinterest and benefits available for this position can be found here.

US based applicants only

$176,924—$364,254 USD

Our Commitment To Inclusion

Pinterest is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit. We want to have the best qualified people in every job. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, status as a protected veteran, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information or characteristics (or those of a family member) or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state or local laws. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you require a medical or religious accommodation during the job application process, please complete this form for support.

Salary : $176,924 - $364,254

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