Staff Software Engineer (Edge)

Pinterest; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Pinterest's Edge team is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead automation traffic management at the edge, focusing on bots and crawlers while shaping the rate-limiting platform.

You will build edge systems using in-house components, Envoy, and multiple CDN/DNS providers, and contribute code in C++, Golang, and Python while mentoring engineers and guiding design reviews.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering focusing on traffic management.
• Experience with bot detection or automation traffic management is a plus.
• Experience designing distributed systems from proposal to production.
• Proficiency in C++, Golang, or Python; experience with L7 proxies.
• Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD in CS/CE or related field or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of edge traffic management features.
• Develop and refine Envoy-based request processing for routing and enforcement.
• Collaborate with CDN vendors to define integration points.
• Mentor engineers and drive design reviews and coaching.
• Apply AI to accelerate prototyping, analysis, and operations.
• Participate in on-call for Edge systems and improve reliability.

Skills

C++

Golang

Python

Education

Bachelor’s / Master’s / PhD in CS/CE or related

Tools

Envoy

Nginx

Varnish

Traefik

Job description

• The Edge team owns the systems (including CDN, TLS, DNS, ingress/egress proxy fleet, and rate limiting) that connect 600M+ users to Pinterest
• We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead our efforts to manage automation traffic (such as bots and crawlers) at the Edge, while shaping the future of our rate limiting platform.
• Build Edge systems that combine in-house implementation, open-source software like Envoy proxy, and multiple CDN & DNS providers. Balance what to build, what to leverage from the community, and what to orchestrate across vendors
• Drive automation traffic management efforts in the Edge space, designing solutions to manage bots and crawlers at scale
• Design and implement request processing logic in Envoy to support Edge capabilities such as routing, traffic classification, and enforcement. Write, review, and maintain code written in C++, Golang, and Python
• Collaborate with CDN vendors and internal platform teams to define integration points
• Study internal user pain points with the rate limiting platform and translate findings into a prioritized roadmap
• Mentor engineers within the team and demonstrate technical leadership through design reviews, pairing, and coaching
• Use AI to accelerate prototyping, analysis, and operational tasks, while applying engineering judgment to verify correctness and production-readiness
• Participate in oncall for Edge systems and drive incident response, post-mortems, and reliability improvements

Proficiency in C++, Golang, or Python, with experience developing L7 HTTP proxies such as Envoy, Nginx, Varnish, and TraefikDeep understanding of network protocols across L3-L7 and hands-on experience debugging production networking issues at scaleProven ability to design distributed systems architectures and drive them from proposal through proof of concept to productionBachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experienceExperience gathering requirements from internal users, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, and delivering credible technical plansDemonstrated experience using AI to accelerate engineering workflows (design exploration, code generation, operational analysis), with a clear approach to validating correctness and quality6+ years of experience in infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering, with a deep focus on traffic management systems (CDN, HTTP gateways, service mesh, or load balancing)Experience with bot detection, scraping prevention, or automation traffic management systems is a plus