About the job
As a Sr. Staff Technical Program Manager for Search Signals at Pinterest, you will lead company-level programs that are foundational to Pinterest’s strategic transformation into a shopping and inspiration platform. This role is responsible for driving innovation and execution across offsite signals, content understanding, and relevance, with direct impact on multiple company OKRs. You will operate at the intersection of technical depth, cross-org influence, and long-term business strategy, shaping the future of search and personalization at Pinterest.
Responsibilities
Envision and trailblaze the company’s approach to leveraging offsite and onsite signals, anticipating future business, technical, and regulatory challenges.
Drive the creation and evolution of the company-wide roadmap for signals, aligning business objectives with technical capabilities and directly impacting multiple company OKRs.
Oversee and deliver company-level programs that span multiple organizations, managing ambiguity and risk at scale.
Serve as the primary liaison with AI Research teams and other partner organizations to accelerate the adoption of new models (LLMs, VLMs, recommender systems) and ensure seamless integration into core Pinterest experiences.
Use GenAI as the default operating model for TPM execution—starting from AI-assisted first drafts of core artifacts and modernizing high-toil workflows into AI-first mechanisms where appropriate.
Prototype lightweight AI-powered helpers and tools (“vibe coding”) to improve signal quality monitoring, experiment readouts, and decision-making across Search and Signals.
Qualifications
Minimum
BS in a technical discipline or equivalent experience (10+ years in technical or analytical roles, with significant program leadership at company scale).
Demonstrated ability to lead transformational, company-level programs with direct impact on multiple OKRs.
Deep technical breadth and judgment, with expertise in search, recommendation systems, ML/AI, and large-scale data integration.
AI-forward execution mindset – demonstrated ability to use GenAI to accelerate planning, program operations, and stakeholder communications at company scale.
Workflow design, AI fluency, and data orientation – experience turning repeatable program work into durable, low-toil mechanisms and improving decision quality using GenAI, data analysis, and automation.
Safety-by-design AI fluency – experience operating within AI governance expectations (risk assessment, sensitive data handling, model/output validation, auditability/traceability).
Proven track record of influencing at the VP/staff level and driving consensus across complex, cross-functional environments.
Exceptional communication, relationship-building, and organizational awareness.
Experience with legal, privacy, and regulatory compliance in data-driven environments.
Preferred
Experience working with external data partners and negotiating data acquisition agreements is highly desirable.
Experience with internationalization and supporting global product relevance is a plus.
Experience working with Search products at a low level of detail highly desirable.
Experience with data acquisition, integration, and management, especially for offsite signals, is a plus.