Staff Software Engineer, Programmatic Ads

Pinterest Pinterest · Consumer · Seattle, WA · Monetization

Staff Software Engineer on the Programmatic Ads team at Pinterest, focusing on integrating with external demand partners, driving performance optimization for ad products, and building internal tools. The role involves leading partner integrations, using AI to accelerate team execution and decision-making, driving the full software development lifecycle, and mentoring junior engineers. Requires significant backend software engineering experience in large-scale distributed systems and experience with ad serving platforms. A strong emphasis is placed on the ability to leverage AI effectively and critically evaluate AI-assisted work, ensuring high standards of technical excellence and ownership.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead one or two partner integrations, and work closely with product managers, data scientists, other cross-functional teams, and external partners to understand business requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
  2. Use AI to accelerate team execution, system design, and decision-making, applying sound judgment to validate outputs and ensure correctness and quality.
  3. Independently drive the full software development lifecycle, including ideation, technical design, prototyping, development, and release.
  4. Independently drive problem-solving and product iterations by utilizing A/B testing.
  5. Establish and maintain a high standard for technical excellence and production quality.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, a related field or equivalent experience
  • 8+ years of hands-on backend software engineering experience in large-scale distributed systems.
  • Experience with ad serving platform, ad exchange, supply-side platform, or demand-side platform.
  • Demonstrated ability to use AI to accelerate team execution, system design, and decision-making, paired with sound judgment in validating outputs, maintaining quality, and taking ownership of final outcomes.
  • Strong track record of critical evaluation and verification of AI-assisted work (e.g., testing, source-checking, data validation, peer review).
  • High integrity and ownership: you protect sensitive data, avoid over-reliance on AI, and remain accountable for final decisions and deliverables.
  • Demonstrated ability to transform a team’s engineering workflow using AI—from pilot to broad adoption—through tooling, enablement, and change leadership, with clear metrics (cycle time, defect rate, on-call load, incident rate).

Nice to have

  • Passion for working on ad products work.
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder alignment skills.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and analytical mindset, with the ability to use data to guide decisions

What the JD emphasized

  • Demonstrated ability to use AI to accelerate team execution, system design, and decision-making, paired with sound judgment in validating outputs, maintaining quality, and taking ownership of final outcomes.
  • Strong track record of critical evaluation and verification of AI-assisted work (e.g., testing, source-checking, data validation, peer review).
  • Demonstrated ability to transform a team’s engineering workflow using AI—from pilot to broad adoption—through tooling, enablement, and change leadership, with clear metrics (cycle time, defect rate, on-call load, incident rate).

Other signals

  • Integrates with external demand partners (DSPs, SSPs, etc) through OpenRTB.
  • Drives performance optimization (latency, conversion, engagement, fill rate, etc) for our programmatic ad products.
  • Builds internal tools to better enable cross-functional teams.
  • Uses AI to accelerate team execution, system design, and decision-making.
  • Drives the full software development lifecycle, including ideation, technical design, prototyping, development, and release.
  • Drives problem-solving and product iterations by utilizing A/B testing.
  • Establishes and maintains a high standard for technical excellence and production quality.
  • Mentors junior engineers on the team and provides design and coding feedback.
  • Experience with ad serving platform, ad exchange, supply-side platform, or demand-side platform.
  • Demonstrated ability to use AI to accelerate team execution, system design, and decision-making, paired with sound judgment in validating outputs, maintaining quality, and taking ownership of final outcomes.
  • Strong track record of critical evaluation and verification of AI-assisted work (e.g., testing, source-checking, data validation, peer review).
  • High integrity and ownership: you protect sensitive data, avoid over-reliance on AI, and remain accountable for final decisions and deliverables.
  • Demonstrated ability to transform a team’s engineering workflow using AI—from pilot to broad adoption—through tooling, enablement, and change leadership, with clear metrics (cycle time, defect rate, on-call load, incident rate).