ML Engineer Jobs at Pinterest with Visa Sponsorship
ML Engineer jobs at Pinterest involve building recommendation systems, content understanding models, and personalization infrastructure at scale. The company has a consistent track record of sponsoring work visas for this function, covering multiple visa categories for both new hires and employees already in the U.S.
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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.
Pinterest is on a mission to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love. The Applied Science team plays a critical role in this mission by developing cutting-edge machine learning solutions that scale across all of Pinterest engineering teams (see our team's publications).
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
We're looking for a highly technical Engineering Manager with a deep understanding of modern recommendation systems to manage, lead and develop a team of machine learning researchers and engineers within the Applied Science team. In this role, you will help the team build a portfolio of work which can balance that addresses both immediate short-term business needs and long-term strategic breakthroughs. You will partner with senior leaders to evolve our technical roadmap and directly drive Pinterest's core mission forward.
What you will do:
- Vision and Strategy: Own the technical roadmap and strategic vision for Pinterest's next-generation recommendation systems. Champion the use of state-of-the-art ML techniques to deliver revolutionary innovations in recommendation technology.
- Research to Production: Successfully transition breakthrough ML research into production-ready systems that directly impact core company metrics.
- Team Leadership and Culture: Manage, inspire, and develop a talented team of machine learning researchers and engineers specializing in recommendation systems. Partner with your team to define their charter, ensuring a strong balance between cutting-edge research and building foundational embeddings that benefit products across the entire company.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Core Engineering, Ads Engineering, Infrastructure, Content, and Data Science teams to prototype, build, and scale solutions to complex engineering challenges. Partner with leadership to deepen user understanding and set the strategic direction for our recommendation system roadmap.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Technical Depth: 7+ years of combined post-graduate academic and industry experience applying state-of-the-art ML technologies to real-world problems on web-scale data, alongside 3+ years of direct people management experience.
- Proven Execution: A track record of delivering high-impact initiatives across multiple product areas, with a demonstrated ability to influence peers and leadership using data-driven insights.
- Talent Development: Experience mentoring, coaching, and up-leveling software and machine learning engineers.
- Continuous Learner: A self-propelled learner who stays ahead of industry trends, new tools, and emerging methodologies, with an appetite for building proof-of-concept prototypes.
- Business & Product Acumen: The ability to transform vague, ambiguous questions into well-defined projects with clear success metrics that drive business decisions.
- Communication & Credibility: Excellent communication skills with the ability to distill complex technical findings for leadership and product teams, backed by a strong track record of publications in machine learning, AI, data science, or related technical fields.
- Academic Credentials: MS/PhD in Computer Science, ML, NLP, Statistics, Information Sciences or related field.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Track record of publishing at top-tier ML/RecSys conferences (KDD, RecSys, NeurIPS, CVPR).
- Experience leveraging modern LLM/Agentic workflows and generative AI capabilities to accelerate engineering productivity and context extraction.
In-Office Requirement Statement:
- We let the type of work you do guide the collaboration style. That means we're not always working in an office, but we continue to gather for key moments of collaboration and connection.
- This role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 1-2 times/quarter and therefore can be situated anywhere in the country.
Relocation Statement:
- This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.
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.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding ML Engineer Jobs at Pinterest
Frame your ML portfolio around recommendations
Pinterest's core product runs on personalization and visual search. Projects demonstrating experience with embedding models, ranking systems, or large-scale content retrieval signal direct relevance to their ML infrastructure and strengthen your application before the sponsorship conversation begins.
Confirm the role's sponsorship tier early
Pinterest sponsors multiple visa categories, but not every ML Engineer role supports every visa type. Ask your recruiter during the first screen which categories the specific team has filed for, so you're not surprised during offer negotiation.
Target Pinterest's applied ML and ranking teams
Pinterest posts ML Engineer roles across recommendation systems, ads relevance, and creator content. Roles closer to core ranking infrastructure tend to involve more clearly defined specialty occupation criteria, which makes the H-1B specialty occupation determination more straightforward for USCIS review.
Align your degree field to the posted role requirements
USCIS scrutinizes whether your degree field directly relates to the ML Engineer role. A computer science or statistics degree maps cleanly. If yours is adjacent, prepare documentation linking your coursework and experience to the specific responsibilities in Pinterest's job description.
Use Migrate Mate to filter verified ML Engineer openings
Identifying which Pinterest ML Engineer postings are actively open to visa sponsorship saves weeks of dead-end outreach. Migrate Mate filters jobs by sponsorship type so you can prioritize roles that match your visa category from the start.
Plan around H-1B cap timelines if you're on OPT
If you're working at Pinterest on F-1 OPT, your employer must file your H-1B petition by April 1 for an October 1 start. STEM OPT extensions give you up to three additional years of runway, but coordinate with Pinterest's immigration team well before your current authorization expires.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pinterest sponsor H-1B visas for ML Engineers?
Yes, Pinterest sponsors H-1B visas for ML Engineer roles. The company works with immigration counsel to file petitions for qualifying hires and has done so across multiple ML engineering functions. Because H-1B approvals are subject to the annual lottery, your timing and degree-to-role alignment both matter. Confirm sponsorship eligibility for the specific team during your recruiter screen, not after the offer stage.
How do I apply for ML Engineer jobs at Pinterest?
Applications go through Pinterest's careers site, where ML Engineer roles are listed by team and function. Tailor your resume to reflect Pinterest's focus areas, specifically recommendation systems, ranking models, and content understanding. You can also browse verified ML Engineer openings at Pinterest filtered by visa sponsorship category on Migrate Mate, which surfaces roles where sponsorship is actively available.
Which visa types does Pinterest commonly use for ML Engineers?
Pinterest sponsors H-1B, E-3 visa, TN visa, and F-1 OPT for ML Engineer roles, and supports Green Card pathways including EB-2 and EB-3 for longer-term employees. E-3 visa is available exclusively to Australian citizens and skips the H-1B lottery entirely. TN visa applies to Canadian and Mexican nationals in qualifying occupations. Your recruiter can confirm which categories apply to the specific role you're targeting.
What qualifications does Pinterest expect for ML Engineer roles?
Pinterest typically looks for a bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, electrical engineering, statistics, or a closely related field, combined with hands-on experience building and deploying ML systems at scale. For senior roles, experience with recommendation systems, embedding-based retrieval, or large-scale ranking pipelines carries significant weight. Familiarity with Python and distributed training frameworks is expected across most ML engineering functions at the company.
How do I time a visa sponsorship filing with a Pinterest offer?
Once Pinterest extends an offer and confirms sponsorship, your start date depends on your current status and which visa category applies. H-1B filings for cap-subject candidates must be submitted in April for an October 1 start date, so offers extended outside that window may require you to use a grace period or bridge status. E-3 and TN filings can happen year-round with shorter lead times. Coordinate directly with Pinterest's immigration team to map your specific timeline.