Sr. Software Engineer, Backend

Pinterest; Seattle, San Francisco (WA, CA); Hybrid; USD 149,600 - 308,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading social media platform in Seattle is seeking an experienced Backend Engineer to build backend features and systems that enhance user experience. The role involves collaboration with diverse teams, implementing high-quality solutions while leveraging AI for process improvement. Candidates should possess a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and 4+ years of backend development experience. Competitive salary ranges from $149,600 to $308,000, plus equity options.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of industry backend development experience.
• Experience in building consumer or business-facing products.
• Ability to apply best practices for reliable and maintainable code.

Responsibilities

• Build backend for Pinner-facing features on Pinterest.
• Partner with cross-functional teams for end-to-end functionality.
• Leverage AI to improve execution and automate tasks.

Skills

Backend development experience

Proficiency in common backend tech stacks

Proficiency in GraphQL APIs

Collaboration and communication skills

Experience in Python, Java, C++, or Go

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

GraphQL

Public cloud services

Job description

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 are looking for inquisitive, well-rounded Backend engineers to join our Core, Monetization, and Tech Foundations engineering teams. Working closely with product managers, designers, data scientists, and backend engineers, you’ll play an important role in enabling the newest technologies and experiences as we scale and evolve. You will build robust frameworks & features. You will accelerate velocity for one of the world’s largest public cloud workloads. You will empower both developers and Pinners alike. You’ll have the opportunity to find creative solutions to thought-provoking problems. Even better, because we covet the kind of courageous thinking that’s required in order for big bets and smart risks to pay off, you’ll be invited to create and drive new initiatives, seeing them from inception through to technical design, implementation, and release.

What you’ll do:

• Build out the backend for Pinner-facing features to power the future of inspiration on Pinterest
• Partner with design, product, and backend teams to build end-to-end functionality
• Put on your Pinner hat to suggest new product ideas and features
• Employ automated testing to build features with a high degree of technical quality, taking responsibility for the components and features you develop
• Grow as an engineer by working with world-class peers on varied and high impact projects
• Design, develop, and operate large scale, distributed systems and networks
• Work with Engineering customers to understand new requirements and address them in a scalable and efficient manner
• Actively work to improve the developer process and experience in all phases from coding to operation
• May contribute to and lead each step of the product development process, from ideation to implementation to release; from rapidly prototyping, running A/B tests, to architecting and building solutions that can scale to support millions of users
• Leverage AI to seek faster execution (i.e. draft, prototype, outline) and explore alternative options (i.e. iterate, compare approaches)
• Leverage AI to synthesize information (summarize, distill themes) and automate repeatable tasks (documentation, reporting, QA checks)

What we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related field or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of industry backend development experience, building consumer or business facing products
• Proficiency in common backend tech stacks for online service, storage, caching and data processing
• Proficiency in building GraphQL APIs and converting REST to GraphQL
• Passionate about working on a Platform team; experience owning large projects
• Self‑motivated and a desire to improve the lives of other developers / internal developer productivity
• Experience in following best practices in writing reliable and maintainable code that may be used by many other engineers
• Ability to keep up‑to‑date with new technologies to understand what should be incorporated
• Strong collaboration and communication skills
• Experience building & operating large scale distributed systems and/or networks. Bonus points if you enjoy deploying and operating large scale workloads on a public cloud footprint
• Experience in Python, Java, C++, or Go or another language and a willingness to learn
• Demonstrated ability to use AI to improve speed and quality in your day‑to‑day workflow for relevant outputs.
• Strong track record of critical evaluation and verification of AI‑assisted work (e.g., testing, source‑checking, data validation, peer review).
• High integrity and ownership: you protect sensitive data, avoid over‑reliance on AI, and remain accountable for final decisions and deliverables.

This position is not eligible for relocation assistance.

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.

US based applicants only

$149,600—$308,000 USD

Our Commitment to Inclusion:

Pinterest is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit. We want to have the best qualified people in every job. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, status as a protected veteran, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information or characteristics (or those of a family member) or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state or local laws. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you require a medical or religious accommodation during the job application process, please complete this form for support.