[Remote] Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Pinterest is a platform that inspires creativity and helps users plan for lasting memories. They are seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to lead the ML strategy and execution for intelligent systems that enhance advertiser and seller experiences. The role involves building recommendation systems and decision-making frameworks to optimize user interactions and drive growth.ResponsibilitiesLead the design and implementation of large-scale recommendation and decisioning systems that power proactive advertiser and seller guidance across Ads Manager, Pinterest Business Assistant, Pinnacle, and sales productivity workflowsBuild ML foundations for a unified context layer and context agent that transforms campaign, account, performance, market, workflow, and interaction data into reusable signals for agentic experiencesOwn recommendation initiatives end-to-end, from problem framing, label and feedback design, feature pipelines, model development, and offline evaluation through production deployment, experimentation, and monitoringDevelop evaluation and feedback loops that measure recommendation quality, user trust, action rates, business impact, and failure modes, then use those learnings to continuously improve models and agent behaviorApply modern ML techniques such as retrieval and ranking, embeddings, personalization, multi-objective optimization, contextual decisioning, and response modeling to business-critical advertiser and seller workflowsUse AI to accelerate analysis, prototyping, documentation, and experimentation while applying strong judgment, testing, data validation, and review to ensure correctness, reliability, privacy, and customer trustMentor engineers and raise the technical bar for ML development, experimentation rigor, responsible AI usage, and production-quality agentic systems across the organizationSkills7+ years of experience building and deploying large-scale ML systems in production (e.g., ads ranking, recommendation, Agentic AI, or search), with strong end-to-end ownership from problem scoping through evaluation and experimentation, and solid software engineering skills in at least one modern language (e.g., Python, Java) and large-scale data systemsDegree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experienceStrong end-to-end ML ownership, including problem scoping, data and label design, feature engineering, model training, production deployment, offline/online evaluation, experimentation, and monitoringDeep understanding of recommendation system architectures such as candidate generation, retrieval, ranking, re-ranking, embeddings, vector search, multi-task learning, calibration, contextual bandits, or reinforcement learningProven Staff-level technical leadership as a hands-on IC, setting technical direction and driving multi-quarter ML and systems roadmaps, including aligning stakeholders on priorities, trade-offs, and execution plansExcellent cross-functional communication and collaboration skills, building strong partnerships with product, data science, infra, and partner ML teams to clarify ambiguous problem spaces, co-create solutions, and drive consensus with senior stakeholdersExperience using AI coding assistants (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) and LLM-powered productivity tools to accelerate development, experimentation, and data exploration, with a clear approach to validation, data protection, and critical review of AI-assisted workBenefitsThe position is also eligible for equity.Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.This role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 1 day per week and therefore needs to be in a commutable distance from one of the following offices [Seattle or Bay Area].Information regarding the culture at Pinterest and benefits available for this position can be found here.Company OverviewPinterest is a visual bookmarking tool for saving and discovering creative ideas. It was founded in 2010, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, with a workforce of 1001-5000 employees. Its website is https://www.pinterest.com/.