← Back to all roles in the United States

San Francisco, United States

Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Ads Conversion Core Modeling

Pinterest · San Francisco · United States

Data Scientist

Posted: 10/16/2026 · Last checked: 10/17/2026

Job description

Quoted in full from Pinterest's job posting. Gavroche does not edit it.

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.

We are looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to lead the technical vision for our Ads Conversion Core Modeling team, building the state-of-the-art systems that power our global marketplace.

 

What you’ll do: 

  • Lead the technical direction and development of state-of-the-art applied ML projects for ads conversion.  
  • Design and build large-scale DNN models to improve user action prediction with low latency.  
  • Mine text, visual, and user signals to better understand intention and infer interests from online activity.  
  • Use AI to accelerate analysis and iteration, while applying judgment and verification to ensure correctness and quality.  
  • Automate repeatable tasks such as documentation, reporting, and QA checks to speed up the development lifecycle.  
  • Coach and mentor engineers while collaborating with product and sales to design new ad products.

 

What we’re looking for:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, or a related field.
  • Minimum 6 years of industry experience building production ML systems at scale (Search, Recommendations, or Ranking).  
  • Minimum 2 years of experience leading technical projects or teams.  
  • Demonstrated ability to use AI to improve speed and quality in your day-to-day workflow for relevant outputs.  
  • Experience with Cursor, Copilot, Codex, or similar AI coding assistants for development, debugging, testing, and refactoring.
  • Familiarity with LLM-powered productivity tools for documentation search, experiment analysis, SQL/data exploration, and engineering workflow acceleration.
  • High integrity and ownership: you protect sensitive data, avoid over-reliance on AI, and remain accountable for final deliverables.
  • Strong mathematical foundation and experience with statistical methods and A/B testing. 

 

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 per month and therefore needs to be in a commutable distance from one of the following offices: San Francisco, Palo Alto, Seattle.

#LI-HYBRID 

#LI-SM4

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
$222,716—$389,753 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.

Similar roles in San Francisco

200 open roles like this one; at most three per employer shown.

What data scientist adverts in San Francisco state

Middle half: 205,000 – 271,350 USD a year; median 239,000 USD.

From 51 adverts by 23 employers that state a salary, annualised.

How data scientist roles in the United States are worked

9% fully remote · 4% hybrid · 87% do not say

Of 109 adverts. An advert that does not state a work mode is counted as not saying, not as on-site.

New openings in San Francisco, by week

  1. 7/20/2026 111
  2. 7/27/2026 133
  3. 8/3/2026 142
  4. 8/10/2026 188
  5. 8/17/2026 191
  6. 8/24/2026 199
  7. 8/31/2026 287
  8. 9/7/2026 268
  9. 9/14/2026 316
  10. 9/21/2026 393
  11. 9/28/2026 372
  12. 10/5/2026 407
  13. 10/12/2026 368

3,375 openings over 12 weeks, by the week they were published.

Other roles at Pinterest

67 open, including roles outside the United States.