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.
At Pinterest, AI isn't just a feature, it's a powerful partner that augments our creativity and amplifies our impact, and we’re looking for candidates who are excited to be a part of that. To get a complete picture of your experience and abilities, we’ll explore your foundational skills and how you collaborate with AI.
Through our interview process, what matters most is that you can always explain your approach, showing us not just what you know, but how you think. You can read more about our AI interview philosophy and how we use AI in our recruiting process here.
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to help build the next generation of Pinterest’s big data storage platform. You’ll work on some of the most exciting big data open source technologies — especially Apache Iceberg — at exabyte scale to power the data infrastructure that helps Pinners discover and do what they love.
As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll serve as a technical leader and hands-on contributor, designing and building highly scalable storage systems for Pinterest’s data lake. You’ll partner closely with teams across data, ML/AI, analytics, and infrastructure to evolve our storage and metadata management capabilities, enabling efficient, reliable, and governed access to data at massive scale.
What you’ll do:
- Design, implement, and optimize Pinterest’s exabyte-scale data lake storage platform.
- Lead complex technical projects and initiatives for data lake storage and metadata management, driving them from architecture through execution.
- Collaborate with stakeholders and partner teams across the organization to design storage and metadata layer technologies that unlock big data and ML/AI innovations.
- Build storage capabilities that efficiently support large-scale ML/AI workloads, including high-throughput data access, schema evolution, and large-scale column backfills.
- Shape the long-term technical direction for scalable, reliable, and efficient big data storage systems.
- Engage with and contribute to open source communities such as Apache Iceberg, Spark, and Flink to help address Pinterest’s scaling challenges.
What we’re looking for:
- 8+ years of relevant industry experience designing and building large-scale production distributed systems.
- Strong experience designing and maintaining scalable storage, metadata, or data lake infrastructure.
- Experience building storage capabilities for large-scale ML/AI or analytics workloads, including high-throughput data access, schema evolution, and large-scale column backfills.
- Deep knowledge with building distributed systems, data storage systems, and production infrastructure.
- Experience with big data technologies such as Apache Iceberg, Spark, Flink, Presto/Trino, Hive, or similar systems.
- Proficiency in programming languages like Java, Scala, or Python.
- Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives and influence architecture across teams.
- Strong collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills, with a drive for technical excellence and innovation.
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Computer Science, or equivalent experience
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.
Relocation Statement:
- This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.
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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.
Our Commitment to Inclusion:
Skills Required
- 8+ years designing and building large-scale production distributed systems
- Experience designing and maintaining scalable storage, metadata, or data lake infrastructure
- Experience building storage capabilities for large-scale ML/AI or analytics workloads (high-throughput access, schema evolution, column backfills)
- Deep knowledge of distributed systems, data storage systems, and production infrastructure
- Experience with big data technologies such as Apache Iceberg, Spark, Flink, Presto/Trino, or Hive
- Proficiency in programming languages like Java, Scala, or Python
- Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives and influence architecture across teams
- Strong collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a relevant field, or equivalent experience
- US-based applicant (role limited to US-based candidates)
- Experience engaging with or contributing to open source communities (Iceberg, Spark, Flink)
Pinterest Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Pinterest and has not been reviewed or approved by Pinterest.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Compensation is considered competitive in core technical roles, with clearly defined base, bonus, and RSU components. Vesting schedules and pay elements are articulated clearly, supporting visibility into total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Policies include substantial paid parental leave globally alongside fertility and family‑building benefits, adoption assistance, and dedicated caregiver supports. Communications also highlight a phased return‑to‑work approach.
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Flexible Benefits — PinFlex enables role‑dependent hybrid/remote work with home‑office, connectivity, and commuter support, plus the option to work internationally for a limited period with approval. Time away is reinforced by a paid company shutdown and generous vacation framing.
Pinterest Insights
What We Do
Pinterest is the visual inspiration platform people around the world use to shop products personalized to their taste, find ideas to do offline and discover the most inspiring creators. Today, more than 460 million people come to the platform every month to explore and experience billions of ideas that have been saved. We’re proud to help people to discover and do what they love.
