Principal Engineer, AI-Driven Indexing & Retrieval

Pinterest; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 285,452 - 449,541; Full time

Job summary

Pinterest is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical strategy and execution for Indexing & Retrieval Infrastructure across Core, Ads, and Shopping. The role sits at the center of our delivery infrastructure, shaping how fresh, relevant, and cost-efficient candidates are generated for discovery experiences at scale.

You will partner with engineering, product, ML, and infrastructure leaders to align priorities, drive modernization, and raise the bar for retrieval infrastructure across

Qualifications

• Must have deep expertise building and evolving large-scale indexing, search, or retrieval systems.
• Strong technical leadership across multiple teams or organizations.
• Experience modernizing large architectures and rolling out shared platforms.
• Excellent systems thinking, problem solving, and impact on product quality and business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term technical vision for indexing and retrieval infrastructure across Core, Ads, and Shopping.
• Lead cross-org initiatives to modernize indexing architecture and support high-scale retrieval.
• Partner with engineering, product, ML, and infrastructure to align priorities and deliver platform capabilities.
• Guide system design, architecture reviews, and execution on complex platform changes.
• Build shared platform capabilities like metrics, tuning surfaces, and debugging workflows.
• Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders to raise engineering judgment and excellence.
• Leverage AI to accelerate analysis, prototyping, and design exploration.

Skills

Large-scale indexing

Cross-team leadership

AI in engineering workflows

Systems thinking

Technical communication

Problem solving

Data privacy and correctness

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/Engineering or equivalent

Job description

Pinterest is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical strategy and execution for Indexing & Retrieval Infrastructure across Core, Ads, and Shopping. The role sits at the center of our delivery infrastructure, shaping how fresh, relevant, and cost-efficient candidates are generated for discovery experiences at scale.

You will partner with engineering, product, ML, and infrastructure leaders to align priorities, drive modernization, and raise the bar for retrieval infrastructure across