Staff Software Engineer, Service Communications

Pinterest; United States; On-site; USD 177,185 - 364,795; Full time

Job summary

Pinterest is seeking a Staff Engineer for their Service Communications team to lead technical strategy in networking systems. This role requires expertise in architecting service mesh features and ensuring reliable service-to-service interactions.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in infrastructure engineering, a strong understanding of service security, and proficiency in languages such as Java, Python, and C++. This position can be situated anywhere in the United States.

The salary range for this position is $177,185 — $364,795 USD, and it is not eligible for relocation assistance.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in distributed systems or RPC framework development.
• Hands-on experience with service mesh technologies like Envoy or Istio.
• Strong background in service security, identity management involving mTLS.

Responsibilities

• Architect and deploy advanced service mesh features using Envoy proxy.
• Lead organization-wide adoption of service identity and mTLS.
• Design traffic optimization primitives to reduce data transfer costs.

Skills

Infrastructure or platform engineering experience

Technical expertise in service mesh technologies

Proficiency in Java, Python, C++

Understanding of service security

Experience designing distributed systems

Experience driving platform capabilities

Using AI to accelerate workflows

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

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.

Intro

The Service Communications team manages the foundational high-layer networking systems ensuring reliable, secure, and performant service-to-service interactions at Pinterest. Our Envoy-based mesh and multi-language frameworks provide critical primitives for hundreds of internal services, and we are looking for a Staff Engineer to lead technical strategy across identity, traffic optimization, and platform scaling.

What you’ll do

• Architect and deploy advanced service mesh features, focusing on service discovery, traffic shaping, and deep observability using Envoy proxy.
• Lead the organization-wide adoption of service identity and mTLS to satisfy critical AAA security requirements for service-to-service paths.
• Design traffic optimization primitives like locality-aware routing to materially reduce data transfer costs for high-volume service traffic.
• Maintain and modernize service framework libraries in Java, Python, and C++, enhancing the developer experience and operational reliability.
• Collaborate with service owners across the company to drive adoption and refine infrastructure requirements for emerging feature needs.
• Partner with infrastructure peers on multi-region and multi-cloud strategies that rely on robust service communication primitives.
• Use AI to accelerate analysis and iteration, while applying judgment and verification to ensure correctness and quality.
• Join the team oncall rotation to manage incident response, perform post-mortems, and drive long-term reliability improvements.

What we’re looking for

• 6+ years of infrastructure or platform engineering experience, specifically within distributed systems or RPC framework development.
• Deep technical expertise in service mesh technologies such as Envoy or Istio, including hands-on experience with L7 proxying.
• Proficiency across multiple languages (Java, Python, C++) and a track record of building internal libraries or developer tools.
• Strong understanding of service security, including mTLS adoption and identity management via SPIFFE/SPIRE.
• Proven ability to design highly available and efficient distributed systems at massive scale.
• Demonstrated experience driving the adoption of complex platform capabilities across diverse cross-functional engineering teams.
• Demonstrated experience using AI to accelerate engineering workflows, with a clear approach to validating accuracy and quality.
• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent experience.

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

• We recognize that the ideal environment for work is situational and may differ across departments. What this looks like day-to-day can vary based on the needs of each organization or role.
• 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.

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

$177,185 — $364,795 USD

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.

By submitting this application, I certify that all information submitted in my application and throughout the hiring process is true, accurate, and complete to the best of my knowledge. I understand that any false statement, omission, or misrepresentation may disqualify me from employment consideration or result in termination if discovered after hire.