Sr. Software Engineer, Backend

What You Will Do

• Build out the backend for Pinner-facing features to power the future of inspiration on Pinterest, ensuring high performance, reliability, and scalability across millions of users.
• Partner with design, product, and backend teams to architect and deliver end-to-end functionality, from concept to deployment, while maintaining a focus on user experience and business goals.
• Put on your Pinner hat to suggest new product ideas and features, leveraging data-driven insights and user research to drive innovation and engagement.
• Employ automated testing and rigorous code review to build features with a high degree of technical quality, taking full ownership of the components and features you develop, including monitoring and incident response.
• Grow as an engineer by collaborating with world-class peers on varied and high-impact projects, participating in knowledge-sharing sessions, and continuously learning emerging technologies.
• Design, develop, and operate large-scale distributed systems and networks, optimizing for latency, throughput, and cost efficiency while ensuring fault tolerance and disaster recovery.
• Work with engineering customers, including product managers and data scientists, to understand new requirements and address them in a scalable, efficient, and maintainable manner, often proactively identifying potential bottlenecks.
• Actively work to improve the developer process and experience in all phases from coding to operation, contributing to CI/CD pipelines, documentation, and tooling that reduce friction and increase team velocity.
• May contribute to and lead each step of the product development process, from ideation to implementation to release, including rapidly prototyping, running A/B tests, and architecting solutions that scale to support millions of users.
• Leverage AI to seek faster execution, such as drafting, prototyping, and outlining, and explore alternative options through iterative comparison and refinement of approaches.
• Leverage AI to synthesize information, including summarizing complex topics and distilling themes, and automate repeatable tasks such as documentation, reporting, and QA checks to free up time for high-value work.

What We Are Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4+ years of industry backend development experience, building consumer-facing or business-facing products at scale.
• Proficiency in common backend tech stacks for online services, storage systems, caching layers, and data processing pipelines.
• Proficiency in building GraphQL APIs and converting REST APIs to GraphQL, with a deep understanding of schema design and performance optimization.
• Passionate about working on a Platform team, with experience owning large, cross-functional projects from specification to delivery and operations.
• Self-motivated with a strong desire to improve the lives of other developers and enhance internal developer productivity through automation, better abstractions, and clear documentation.
• Experience in following best practices for writing reliable, maintainable, and well-documented code that may be used by many other engineers across multiple teams.
• Ability to keep up-to-date with new technologies and frameworks, critically evaluating what should be incorporated to improve our systems and processes.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems and networks, including experience with microservices architecture, containerization, and orchestration.
• Bonus points if you enjoy deploying and operating large-scale workloads on a public cloud footprint, such as AWS, GCP, or Azure, with a focus on cost optimization and reliability.
• Experience in Python, Java, C++, or Go, or another language, with a willingness to learn new languages and tools as needed.
• Demonstrated ability to use AI to improve speed and quality in your day-to-day workflow for relevant outputs, such as code generation, debugging, or data analysis.
• Strong track record of critical evaluation and verification of AI-assisted work, including testing, source-checking, data validation, and peer review, to ensure accuracy and security.
• High integrity and ownership: you protect sensitive data, avoid over-reliance on AI, and remain accountable for final decisions and deliverables, ensuring ethical use of technology.

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 requires in-office collaboration 1-2 times per quarter, allowing you to be situated anywhere in the country. Some teams may require in-office presence once per week, necessitating a commutable distance from one of the following offices: San Francisco, Palo Alto, or Seattle.

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. 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. Compensation Range: $155,584 - $320,320 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.

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.