Staff Software Engineer, Capacity Engineering

Pinterest; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 177,185 - 364,795; Full time

Job summary

Pinterest is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Capacity Engineering to manage large-scale cloud-native infrastructures and improve operational efficiency.

The role involves collaborating with various teams and leveraging AI for performance enhancements. Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree in computer science and strong technical skills. Salary ranges from USD 177,185 to 364,795, and remote work is permitted with in-office collaboration required 1-2 times quarterly.

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of infrastructure capacity and performance.
• Experience leading efficiency initiatives at scale.
• Strong technical skills for complicating technical challenges.

Responsibilities

• Improve efficiency of large scale shared environments.
• Collaborate with Infrastructure Engineering and SRE teams.
• Leverage AI to enhance workflow and performance investigations.

Skills

Kubernetes

Java

Python

C++

AWS

AI utilization

Performance engineering

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Capacity Engineering

This role is highly impactful and is responsible for efficiently managing one of the largest-scale cloud-native infrastructures in the world. The work has direct visibility across Pinterest Engineering and with leadership.

What you'll do

• Improve the efficiency of large scale shared environments like Kubernetes
• Improve the performance and efficiency of large scale distributed systems that drive Pinterest systems
• Build, develop, and mature profiling and optimization capabilities for Pinterest scale
• Collaborate with Infrastructure Engineering and SRE teams in their mission to deliver highly available, resilient, secure and efficient foundations for Pinterest's tech stack
• Leverage AI to scale the impact of yourself and the team, including:
  • Accelerate performance investigations (e.g. quickly distill logs/metrics/traces and prior learnings) while verifying findings through measurement and testing
  • Build tooling and agents that allow users to self-serve efficiency insights and recommendations
  • Iterate faster on optimization approaches and rollout plans, then validate impact with experiments and production guardrails

What we're looking for

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, a related field or equivalent experience
• Deep understanding of infrastructure capacity and performance
• Experience leading efficiency initiatives at scale on Kubernetes or other large scale shared infrastructure
• Strong technical and performance engineering skills to collaborate with stakeholders on complex and ambiguous technical challenges
• Experience building and managing highly available distributed applications at scale
• Proficiency in software development languages such as Java, Python and C++
• Excellent skills in communicating complex technical issues
• Experience with AWS or similar cloud environments
• Demonstrated ability to use AI to improve speed and quality in 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: protect sensitive data, avoid over-reliance on AI, remain accountable for final decisions and deliverables
• Bonus points for the following:
  • Hands‑on experience with large, cloud-native multi-tenant platforms at Internet scale

In-Office Requirement Statement

• Work can be done remotely, but this role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 1‑2 times per quarter. Location within the country is flexible.

Relocation Statement

• This position is not eligible for relocation assistance.

Salary and Compensation

USD 177,185 — 364,795

US-based applicants only.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

Pinterest is an equal‑opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit. 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 identity or 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.

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