Pinterest

Sr. Director, Engineering - TwoTwenty (Innovation Lab)

Pinterest$329K — $500K+*
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Proven track record as a manager-of-managers in engineering organizations shipping consumer-facing AI/ML products at scale.
  • Deep technical understanding of LLM/generative AI systems, mobile product engineering, or AI-driven experiences.
  • Experience in high-ambiguity environments and fast pivots based on results.
  • Ability to align engineering, design, and product disciplines to achieve a shared vision.
  • History of scaling teams while balancing rapid execution and process.
  • Knowledge and experience in visual discovery and recommendation systems preferred.
  • Hands-on experience with agentic AI architectures.

Responsibilities

  • Drive execution of TwoTwenty's 1-3 year technical strategy for AI products.
  • Manage the investment portfolio balancing near-term and long-term AI initiatives.
  • Set and adjust bold OKRs based on market shifts and experiment results.
  • Make final technical calls balancing speed and rigor in project execution.
  • Lead an integrated engineering team under a unified product vision.
  • Partner with core teams to ship AI features on shared infrastructure at scale.
  • Communicate with senior leadership, securing resources for new initiatives.
  • Resolve prioritization conflicts to maintain rapid project cycles.
  • Scale TwoTwenty while preserving speed and culture through strategic hiring and development.
  • Create an attractive environment for top talent in AI and product-engineering.

Benefits

  • Flexible in-office collaboration requirement, attending 1-2 times monthly.
  • Opportunity to work in a dynamic environment at the forefront of AI innovation.
  • Involvement in shaping AI products for hundreds of millions of users on Pinterest.
  • Equity participation available for all employees.
  • Focus on equitable and inclusive workplace culture.
Full Job Description
TwoTwenty is Pinterest's innovation lab, building visual-first AI products - assistants, Gen-AI creation tools, and editing experiences - with startup speed at Pinterest scale. We're looking for a Senior Director of Engineering to lead a team of 10 (7 direct reports across ML engineering, software engineering, data science, and product management), own the technical strategy for TwoTwenty's AI product portfolio, and scale the org from scrappy to enduring without losing what makes it fast. This role reports to the VP of Product Management, Core, and partners closely with Pinterest's Core Product & Engineering, Advanced Technologies Group, and Trust & Safety teams to ship AI features that reach hundreds of millions of Pinners. What you'll do: • Drive execution of TwoTwenty's 1-3 year technical strategy across visual AI assistants, gen-AI creation tools, and visual editing experiences • Own the investment portfolio across time horizons - balance near-term shipping velocity against longer-term bets on emerging AI capability • Set bold OKRs tied to Pinner engagement and adoption; adjust quarterly based on experiment results and market shifts • Make the final call on technical trade-offs when speed and rigor are in tension • Serve as the single engineering leader accountable for TwoTwenty's integrated output - aligning mobile, backend, design, and LLM engineering under one product vision • Build strategic partnerships with core Pinterest teams (Closeup, Search, Assistant) to ship AI features at Pinterest scale on shared infrastructure • Communicate roadmap and results to senior leadership and executives; secure resources and buy-in for new bets • Resolve cross-org prioritization conflicts so TwoTwenty's rapid iteration cadence doesn't create friction with platform teams • Scale TwoTwenty from a small, scrappy team to a high-performing org while preserving its speed and culture - hire senior technical leaders (Staff/Principal) across mobile, backend, and ML • Structure the org and build succession plans that support multiple concurrent product bets with no single point of failure • Create an environment that attracts and retains top product-engineering and AI talent, with equitable growth paths across disciplines • Set and uphold the technical bar for reliability, safety, and scale of agentic AI systems across Pinterest's multi-billion-Pin ecosystem What we're looking for: • Proven track record leading engineering orgs (manager-of-managers) that shipped consumer-facing AI/ML products at scale • Deep technical fluency in at least one of: LLM/generative AI systems, mobile product engineering, or AI-driven experiences - enough to make strategic technical calls and earn credibility with Staff+ engineers • Experience operating in high-ambiguity, greenfield environments - comfortable making bets without perfect data and pivoting fast on results • Demonstrated ability to align design, product, and engineering around a shared vision and ship integrated experiences • Experience scaling a team while protecting speed - knows when to add process and when to guard scrappiness • Relevant domain experience within visual discovery, search, recommendation systems, and/or taste graphs preferred • Hands-on experience with agentic AI architectures (tool-use, multi-step reasoning loops) • Prior experience in a startup environment highly preferred • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field 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: Palo Alto, San Francisco, or Seattle offices. Relocation Statement: • This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model. #LI-HYBRID #LI-RR4 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 $329,585-$576,774 USD

About Pinterest

Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to discover and save ideas for recipes, home decor, fashion, and more. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Pinterest has over 400 million monthly active users and is available in over 30 languages. The company's mission is to help people discover and do what they love.
Learn more about Pinterest
Size
3,225 employees
Market Cap
$16 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$128.3 million
Founded
2009
5 Year Trend
+53.9%
Revenue
$1.6 billion
NASDAQ

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