Principal Engineer, Indexing & Retrieval Infra

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

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary disclosure

Job summary

Pinterest is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical strategy for indexing and retrieval across Core, Ads, and Shopping. You will guide architecture modernization, collaborate with engineering, ML, and product teams, and raise the bar for performance and cost efficiency.

You will mentor senior engineers, apply AI to accelerate design options, and ensure robust, scalable systems that power Pinterest discovery at scale.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise building and evolving large-scale indexing, search, or ads retrieval systems.
• Experience with real-time and incremental architectures and cost-efficient infrastructure.
• Strong leadership across multiple teams or organizations.
• Proven ability to drive modernization, migration, or rollout of shared platforms.
• Excellent systems thinking linking design to product quality and outcomes.
• Excellent communication for senior technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience using AI to improve speed and quality in engineering workflows.
• Demonstrated accountability for final decisions and deliverables.
• High integrity and care in handling sensitive data and production systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term technical vision for indexing and retrieval across Core, Ads, and Shopping.
• Lead cross-org initiatives to modernize Pinterest's indexing architecture.
• Partner with engineering, product, ML, and infra leaders to align priorities.
• Guide system design, architecture reviews, and platform changes end-to-end.
• Build shared metrics, tuning surfaces, and debugging workflows for tradeoffs.
• Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders across teams.
• Use AI to accelerate analysis, prototyping, and design exploration.
• Apply engineering judgment to ensure correctness, reliability, and quality.

Skills

Large-scale indexing

Real-time retrieval

Incremental architectures

Cross-organizational leadership

Architecture modernization

AI in engineering workflows

System design & reviews

Clear technical communication

Ownership & integrity

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Job description

Pinterest is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical strategy for indexing and retrieval across Core, Ads, and Shopping. You will guide architecture modernization, collaborate with engineering, ML, and product teams, and raise the bar for performance and cost efficiency.

You will mentor senior engineers, apply AI to accelerate design options, and ensure robust, scalable systems that power Pinterest discovery at scale.