Sr. Machine Learning Engineer, Responsible AI- Applied Research Science

About the role

You will architect and lead initiatives that define responsible AI standards for one of the largest visual discovery platforms globally. You will own the design and execution of research projects that evaluate, mitigate, and monitor bias across the entire Pinterest ML lifecycle. You will partner with cross-functional product and engineering teams to embed fairness, safety, and transparency directly into core product features. You will establish rigorous evaluation frameworks for generative AI systems to ensure alignment with Pinterest's policies and values. You will translate complex ethical AI concepts into actionable technical specifications and implementation plans. You will lead red teaming exercises and adversarial testing to uncover potential harms in production systems. You will communicate findings and safeguards to both technical and executive stakeholders clearly and effectively. You will contribute to the open research community by publishing novel methodologies and insights in top-tier venues.

Key facts

What you'll do

Drive the identification and quantification of bias across diverse data sources and model outputs to inform mitigation strategies.

Architect and implement evaluation protocols and tooling for generative AI applications, focusing on safety, alignment, and potential misuse scenarios.

Collaborate with the Trust and Safety organization to establish guardrails and response mechanisms for harmful content generation.

Partner with the ML Platform team to integrate responsible AI checks and monitoring directly into the model development lifecycle.

Work alongside the Content Understanding group to ensure visual and text-based representations are handled with fairness and inclusivity.

Champion the adoption of best practices for data curation and feature engineering to minimize unintended bias in learning signals.

Lead cross-functional working sessions to align on responsible AI goals and timelines with product roadmaps.

Design and run red teaming exercises to stress test models and infrastructure before public release.

Contribute to the definition of Pinterest-specific benchmarks and metrics for measuring responsible AI performance.

Translate complex research papers and methodologies into practical engineering solutions for production-scale systems.

Mentor junior engineers and researchers on principles of fairness, accountability, and transparency in machine learning.

Engage with the broader AI ethics community to ensure Pinterest's practices reflect evolving standards and regulations.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

5+ years of relevant experience in machine learning, data science, or a related technical field.

3+ years of hands-on experience in Python, including data manipulation and machine learning libraries.

Strong foundational knowledge of machine learning algorithms, including supervised, unsupervised, and deep learning methods.

Experience with large-scale data processing frameworks such as Spark or similar distributed computing environments.

Proven ability to design and implement experiments to measure model performance and fairness.

Experience with model evaluation techniques and tooling for debugging and interpreting ML models.

Strong written and verbal communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.

Nice to have

Experience with large language models and their associated safety and alignment challenges.

Knowledge of fairness metrics, bias mitigation techniques, and responsible AI frameworks.

Experience with generative models such as GANs or diffusion models.

Familiarity with Pinterest's tech stack and infrastructure.

Practical notes

Employment is eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship now or within 3 years.

Visa sponsorship will not be available for this role at this time.

New roles are posted on a continuous basis so please apply as soon as possible.

About Pinterest

Pinterest is hiring for Sr. Machine Learning Engineer, Responsible AI- Applied Research Science. The listing location is San Francisco, CA, US; Remote, CA, US.

This Sr. Machine Learning Engineer, Responsible AI- Applied Research Science opening is posted for San Francisco, CA, US; Remote, CA, US.