Staff Data Scientist, Finance & Business Ops

Pinterest; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 164,695 - 339,078; Full time

Job summary

Pinterest is seeking an experienced Staff Data Scientist to join our Finance & Business Operations team, blending data science, AI, and product engineering within the CFO organization. This role emphasizes forecasting, analytics, and internal tooling with broad cross‑functional reach.

You will shape AI strategy, build end‑to‑end forecasting workbenches, and drive adoption across Finance, BizOps, and Monetization.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in data science, analytics engineering, or applied ML.
• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field; advanced degree a plus.
• Strong SQL and Python proficiency.
• Experience building dashboards and self-serve analytics.

Responsibilities

• Own forecasting tooling end to end, from data to UI.
• Ship product features: visuals, onboarding, filtering, and performance improvements.

Skills

Data science

Forecasting

Time-series

SQL

Python

Frontend/full-stack

Dashboards

AI tooling

AI strategy

Executive liaison

Autonomy

Experience 8+ years

Education

Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field

Job description

Job Overview

Pinterest is seeking an experienced Staff Data Scientist to join our Finance & Business Operations team. This is a hybrid data‑science / applied‑AI / product‑engineering role inside Pinterest's CFO organization. It sits at the intersection of forecasting and finance analytics, internal tool‑building, and AI adoption – and the person in it is expected to operate across all three.

The core mandate is to make the CFO org's forecasting and planning work faster, be more rigorous, and more self‑serve. In practice that has meant owning a forecasting product end to end (data pipeline through user‑facing UI), partnering directly with Finance, BizOps, and Core/Monetization stakeholders to embed it in their workflows, and turning the company's emerging AI platform capabilities into tools that finance teams actually use day to day.

This is a high‑autonomy, high‑trust individual‑contributor role with broad cross‑functional reach.

What you'll do

• Own forecasting tooling end to end. Build and maintain the team's primary forecasting workbench – from the underlying data and forecast logic through the interactive web UI that planners use.
• Ship product, not just analysis. Design and build user‑facing features: chart and visualization work, guided onboarding, history/audit views, region and time‑grain filtering, performance optimization.
• Drive AI adoption across Finance & BizOps. Take platform‑level AI capabilities and turn them into trusted tools for finance users. Pilot new capabilities and write enablement material.
• Stay ahead of the AI capability curve. Continuously read and interpret AI research and translate it into a grounded point of view on what will be possible in the next 6–12 months.
• Set AI strategy and guide executives. Shape the CFO org's AI roadmap, prioritize where to invest, and advise senior leaders on what to bet on.
• Deliver recurring finance analytics. Support core CFO‑org deliverables such as budget‑vs‑actuals, variance commentary, executive slide preparation, and metric diagnostics.
• Partner broadly and communicate clearly. Work directly with Finance, BizOps, Monetization, and platform/IT stakeholders, post clear release notes and conduct training sessions.
• Set technical and analytical standards. Raise the bar on rigor, make pragmatic build‑vs‑buy decisions, and create durable documentation.

What we're looking for

• Data science & forecasting
• Strong applied background in time‑series forecasting and quantitative analysis: baseline construction, scenario/adjustment modeling, backtesting and forecast‑accuracy evaluation, seasonality analysis.
• Fluency in turning messy business questions into well‑defined metrics and diagnostics.
• Advanced SQL and proficiency in a primary analysis language (Python strongly preferred).
• Engineering & tool‑building
• Demonstrated ability to build and ship internal web tools, front‑end/full‑stack capability.
• Practical product‑engineering instincts: UX sense, performance debugging, release hygiene.
• Experience building dashboards and self‑serve analytics.
• Applied AI
• Hands‑on experience with modern AI/LLM tooling, moving from experiment to adopted tool.
• Ability to build the business case for AI investment and drive adoption.
• AI foresight & strategy (critical)
• Habit of staying current with AI research and the broader landscape; translate into concrete capability plan.
• Strong product/business strategy instincts.
• Executive influence
• Proven ability to advise senior leaders and executives on technical and AI strategy.
• Trusted technical voice in executive conversations.
• Scope, ownership & communication
• Staff‑level autonomy; independently scope, prioritize, deliver multi‑month efforts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; run training and walkthroughs.
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration.
• Experience
• Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in data science, analytics engineering, or applied ML.
• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field; advanced degree a plus.

Relocation Statement

This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.

In‑Office Requirement Statement

This role will need to be in the office for in‑person collaboration 1–2 times every 6 months and therefore can be situated anywhere in the country.

Salary Range

$164,695 – $339,078 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 or 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.