Head of ML Engineering – Recommendations (Remote)

Pinterest; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 228,000 - 469,000; Full time

Job summary

Pinterest is seeking a senior leader to own the technical roadmap and strategic vision for next-generation recommendation systems. You will champion state-of-the-art ML techniques to deliver revolutionary innovations and collaborate with Core Eng, Ads Eng, Infrastructure, Content, and Data Science teams to scale solutions.

You will manage ML researchers and engineers, transitioning research to production that impacts core metrics.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of combined post-graduate academic and industry experience applying state-of-the-art ML technologies to real-world problems on web-scale data, alongside 3+ years of direct people management experience.
• Track record of delivering high-impact initiatives across multiple product areas, with a data-driven influence across peers and leadership.
• Experience mentoring, coaching, and up-leveling software and machine learning engineers.
• A self-propelled learner who stays ahead of industry trends, with an appetite for building proof-of-concept prototypes.
• Ability to transform vague questions into well-defined projects with clear success metrics that drive business decisions.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to distill complex findings for leadership and product teams, backed by publications in ML/AI/data science or related fields.
• MS/PhD in Computer Science, ML, NLP, Statistics, Information Sciences or related field.
• Nice to have: track record of publishing at top-tier ML/RecSys conferences; experience leveraging modern LLM/Agentic workflows

Responsibilities

• Own the technical roadmap and strategic vision for Pinterest’s next-generation recommendation systems.
• Research to Production: transition ML research into production-ready systems impacting core metrics.
• Team Leadership and Culture: manage, inspire, and develop a talented team of ML researchers and engineers; define charter balancing research and foundational embeddings.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: collaborate with Core Eng, Ads Eng, Infrastructure, Content, and Data Science to prototype, build, and scale solutions

Skills

Technical depth

Execution track

Mentoring

Continuous learner

Business acumen

Communication

Academic credentials

Publications

Education

MS/PhD in Computer Science, ML, NLP, Statistics, Information Sciences or related field

Job description

Pinterest is seeking a senior leader to own the technical roadmap and strategic vision for next-generation recommendation systems. You will champion state-of-the-art ML techniques to deliver revolutionary innovations and collaborate with Core Eng, Ads Eng, Infrastructure, Content, and Data Science teams to scale solutions.

You will manage ML researchers and engineers, transitioning research to production that impacts core metrics.