Manager of Machine Learning Engineering, Pinterest
Homefeed
$189.3-389.8k
+ Equity
More information about location
Visual bookmarking tool for saving & discovering creative ideas
Open for applications
Visual bookmarking tool for saving & discovering creative ideas
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$189.3-389.8k
+ Equity
More information about location
1001+ employees
Company mission
To bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love.
Role
Who you are
- Depth in ML: You bring deep expertise in large-scale production recommender, search, or ads systems. You know the landscape of embedding-based retrieval, experimentation, cost-efficiency, and product-facing ML solutions
- Leadership Maturity: 8+ years of experience, including 1+ year managing high-performing ML teams (10 or more engineers), and a proven record of hiring, empowering, and developing technical talent
- Strategic Instinct: You balance ambition and pragmatism, thoughtfully prioritizing investments in foundational and experimental work. You keep business goals and user experience front and center, never losing sight of impact
- Collaborative Spirit: Experienced in cross-functional stakeholder management, you help diverse teams navigate change, achieve shared goals, and thrive through ambiguity
- Growth Orientation: Whether guiding senior ICs or partnering with peers, you listen deeply, adapt thoughtfully, and help people stretch in pursuit of excellence
- AI Efficiency: Experience using Cursor, Copilot, Codex, or similar AI coding assistants for development, debugging, testing, and refactoring. Familiarity with LLM-powered productivity tools for documentation search, experiment analysis, SQL/data exploration, and engineering workflow acceleration
What the job involves
- Pinterest is a platform where > 500 million users come to discover ideas, get inspired, and turn dreams into action. Every time a user opens Pinterest, Homefeed is what greets them
- For over half a billion people each month, your work will help define what they see, how they feel, and how they connect with what matters to them
- As the Manager II, Machine Learning Engineering for Homefeed Retrieval Modeling, you sit at the heart of this mission, propelling both technology and people forward
- Pinterest Homefeed is known for being at the forefront of recommendation system technologies, helping to pioneer innovative breakthroughs that are scalable to positively impact the Pinner experience
- Retrieval is where the recommendation journey starts, and that is the scope of the team you’ll lead. More specifically you’ll own:
- All of the retrieval sources (candidate generators), including machine learned ones such as two-tower and conditional two-tower
- ML optimization engines to dynamically trigger the different candidate generators
- Signal development and integration in early funnel of recommendation systems to drive growth and retention on the the platform
- Forward-looking investments such as generative retrieval technologies to bring step-function improvements in how contents are recommended
- People Leadership: Build, mentor, and empower a diverse team of 8-9 machine learning engineers—focusing on growth, well-being, and career ambitions. Guide high level ICs, nurture rising stars, and foster an environment where curiosity and mastery thrive
- Technical Direction: Set the strategy, architecture, and roadmap for machine learning-based solutions at the heart of Homefeed. Bring together state-of-the-art ML techniques, cost-efficiency, and infrastructure excellence to drive discovery
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with product, design, and engineering teams to connect business goals and user needs. Drive the conversation for new product experiences and ensure Homefeed remains best-in-class, always evolving to meet what’s next
- Stakeholder Influence: Bridge leadership vision with execution, maintain clarity through change, and build trust during periods of transformation. Provide senior leadership with visibility into the team’s impact across Pinterest and the industry
- Culture Development: Model a culture of expertise, inclusivity, and psychological safety. Your guidance sets the tone for the team—balancing stability and evolution as the organization grows
- How you may grow:
- This role is uniquely positioned for extraordinary growth:
- Industry Visibility: Innovate in ML-driven recommendation systems at a scale few companies reach. Your work will shape state-of-the-art practice, inspire the industry, and be recognized not only internally but by millions globally via blog posts and conference paper submissions
- Core Business Value: Homefeed Retrieval directly influences the largest user touchpoint at Pinterest. As the business and platform grows, this role and the team will scale naturally with it
- Broad Technical Scope: Homefeed Retrieval influences the largest user touchpoint at Pinterest. You’ll lead across core ML topics—learned retrieval, candidate generator modeling, RecGPT, deep collaboration with Principle-level engineers, other organization leaders, and more
- Mentorship and Legacy: Build a mentoring legacy not just for your direct team of 8+ engineers (including Staff-level MLEs), but also by shaping new leaders and influencing peers across the company
Our take
Inspiration and ideas can pop into your head at any time, and with the growth of social media and networking, sharing these interests and gaining exposure has never been easier. Pinterest exists to display these moments visually, as a kind of digital pinboard allowing users to save and share digital images which have inspired them.
Pinterest's emphasis on visual discovery has differentiated it from competitors and created a more positive and fulfilling experience for its users. Pinterest in many ways provides a respite from the ceaseless negativity that plagues social media such as Facebook and X, and this is perhaps responsible for its userbase expanding to 600M by late 2025.
With this type of success, Pinterest's future feels full of possibility. Recent industry chatter suggests that OpenAI may be eyeing the platform, which has sparked exciement for some and concern for others. While nothing is confirmed, the discussion highlights just how valuable Pinterest has become. Whether through potential partnerships or continues independent growth, Pinterest is very much going to keep on innovation and growing.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
9% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company HQ
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Bill Ready
(CEO)Prior to joining Pinterest in 2022, Bill was the President of Commerce, Payments & Emerging Markets at Google.
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