Machine Learning Engineer II, Core Engineering

Pinterest is hiring a Machine Learning Engineer II, Core Engineering in Toronto, Canada. Level rates it ; you can apply on Pinterest.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this machine learning engineer role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Copilot, Cursor and Codex.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 167 other open roles at Pinterest.

AI in this role

CopilotCursorCodex

nlp

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.

With more than 500 million users around the world and 300 billion ideas saved, Pinterest Machine Learning engineers build personalized experiences to help Pinners create a life they love. With just over 4,000 global employees, our teams are small, mighty, and still growing. At Pinterest, you’ll experience hands-on access to an incredible vault of data and contribute large-scale recommendation systems in ways you won’t find anywhere else.

What you’ll do:

Build cutting edge technology using the latest advances in deep learning and machine learning to personalize Pinterest
Partner closely with teams across Pinterest to experiment and improve ML models for various product surfaces (Homefeed, Ads, Growth, Shopping, and Search), while gaining knowledge of how ML works in different areas
Use data driven methods and leverage the unique properties of our data to improve candidates retrieval
Work in a high-impact environment with quick experimentation and product launches
Keeping up with industry trends in recommendation systems

What we’re looking for:

2+ years of industry experience applying machine learning methods (e.g., user modeling, personalization, recommender systems, search, ranking, natural language processing, reinforcement learning, and graph representation learning)
End-to-end hands-on experience with building data processing pipelines, large scale machine learning systems, and big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop/Spark)
M.S. or PhD in Machine Learning or related areas
Expertise in scalable realtime systems that process stream data
Passion for applied ML and the Pinterest product

Nice To Have:

Experience using Cursor, Copilot, Codex, or similar AI coding assistants for development, debugging, testing, and refactoring.
Familiarity with LLM-powered productivity tools for documentation search, experiment analysis, SQL/data exploration, and engineering workflow acceleration.

This job posting is for an open vacancy. Please note that the company utilizes artificial intelligence to screen applicants for the positions.

Relocation Statement:

This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.

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.

#LI-REMOTE

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. 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.

Canada based applicants only$170,840—$220,840 CAD

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.

How we rate this

Machine Learning Engineer II, Core Engineering at Pinterest rates 89 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Machine Learning Engineer II, Core Engineering is an open job at Pinterest.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The role is based in Toronto, ON, CA.
The job was posted on December 23, 2025.
Seniority: mid.
Applications are handled by Pinterest. Apply on Pinterest

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

NLPCopilotCursorCodex

Also common in machine learning engineer jobs at this level

Python PyTorch TensorFlow AWS Generative AI C++

Pay

Typical machine learning engineer job: $198k

This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical machine learning engineer figure when pay comes up. See machine learning engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

What NLP problem have you worked on, and how did you measure whether it actually worked?
Walk me through how you've used Copilot in your day-to-day work.
What are the limits of Cursor that you've run into, and how did you work around them?
What's a project where you used Codex hands-on?
How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: NLP, Copilot, Cursor, and Codex. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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