Staff Software Engineer, Observability

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.

We're seeking an exceptional Staff Software Engineer to join our Observability team at Pinterest. This role combines deep technical expertise in distributed systems and data engineering with a product-oriented mindset to build world-class observability solutions that empower our engineering organization. As a Staff Engineer on the Observability team, you'll be responsible for designing and building the infrastructure and tools that provide visibility into Pinterest's large-scale distributed systems, helping thousands of engineers understand, debug, and optimize their services.

What you'll do:

  • Define and execute the observability roadmap, treating it as a product. Understand engineering team needs and translate them into technical solutions with measurable impact
  • Architect, build, and scale distributed observability infrastructure (metrics, logs, traces) to handle massive volumes across Pinterest's distributed systems
  • Build high-performance data pipelines and storage for real-time and historical telemetry analysis at Pinterest scale
  • Champion Best Practices: Establish observability standards and patterns across the organization, making it easy for teams to instrument their services and gain actionable insights
  • Technical Leadership: Mentor engineers, lead architectural reviews, and influence technical decisions across teams to improve overall system reliability and performance
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with SRE, Infrastructure, Product Engineering, and other teams to understand pain points and deliver solutions that improve developer productivity and system reliability
  • Innovation: Stay current with observability trends and technologies, evaluating and adopting cutting-edge tools and techniques to keep Pinterest at the forefront

What we’re looking for:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
  • Product Mindset: Demonstrated ability to work backwards from customer needs —understanding user needs, prioritizing features, measuring success, and iterating based on feedback. Experience building internal platforms or tools with strong adoption
  • Distributed Systems Expertise: 7+ years of experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems with deep understanding of consistency, availability, scalability, and failure modes
  • Data Engineering Skills: Strong background in building data pipelines, working with time-series databases, columnar storage, stream processing (Kafka, Flink, etc.), and data modeling at scale
  • Observability Domain Knowledge: Hands-on experience with modern observability tools and practices including metrics, logging, tracing, and profiling. Familiarity with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar technologies
  • Programming Proficiency: Expert-level coding skills in languages like Java, Python, Go, or Scala with ability to write production-quality code
  • Systems Thinking: Ability to see the big picture while managing complex technical details, balancing trade-offs between cost, performance, and reliability
  • Experience building observability platforms from the ground up or significantly scaling existing solutions
  • Familiarity with cloud-native architectures and technologies (Kubernetes, service mesh, etc.)
  • Track record of driving adoption of internal platforms through excellent documentation, UX, and developer advocacy
  • Experience with machine learning or anomaly detection applied to observability use cases
  • Strong communication skills with ability to influence stakeholders at all levels
  • Contributions to open-source observability projects, a plus

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.

#LI-REMOTE

#LI-JT1

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. The position is also eligible for equity. 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.

US based applicants only
$177,185—$364,795 USD

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.
Back to blog

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...

Other Jobs To Apply

Amazon Delivery Driver

REMOTE - Entry-Level Management Training (Work from Home)No Experience Needed Full Training Provided

Delta Airlines (Data Entry) Work From Home Position Jobs - Apply Now

Film & TV Development & Production Internships: LA - Summer 2026

`Remote Entry-Level Role | Beginner Friendly | Full/Part-Time | Start ASAP

Work From Home Remote Entry Level -Focus Group Position

Fulfillment Center Warehouse Associate

Robotics Warehouse Associate

amazon warehouse associate $15+/ Hour (Sign on Bonus)!

Amazon Warehouse

Sr. Operations Manager

Delivery Driver(06993) - 2753 W Washington

"Fully Remote Benefits Representative | Flexible Schedule | Hiring Immediately

Fulfillment Workplace Health and Safety Specialist Intern 2026 - AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, OH, OK, TX, UT, WA - Now Hiring

Software Development Engineer III (ADBL189)

Want to Work From Home? Provide Customer Service Support for Leading Cruise Lines - Flexible Hours

DJZ5 - $23.75hr - New Jersey - Amazon DSP Delivery Driver

EHS Specialist

Sales Associate- Redding

Team Member

Remote Travel Specialist (part time)

Remote Data Entry -Time Focus Group Participants (Up To $750/Week)

Data Entry Clerk Work From Home - Part-Time Focus Group Participants (Up To $750/Week)

Remote Healthcare Customer Service Representative

-Urgent Hiring | Entry-Level Remote Role | Flexible Schedule | Apply Today

REMOTE - Entry-Level Management Training (Work from Home)No Experience Needed Full Training Provided

Easy Remote Academic Transcription Jobs No Experience

Immediate Hiring: Virtual Scheduling Assistant-Entry Level

Remote Live Chat Assistant – Entry-Level Customer Support Specialist (No Experience Required | $35/Hour)

Flight Monitor, Amazon - Prime Air

Amazon Prime Delivery Driver $18-$26/hr

Sr. Operations Manager

EHS Specialist

Warehouse Team Member

Warehouse Associate - $18.00/hour

Work From Home - Up to $750/ week

(Part Time) Data Entry - Remote Jobs

Part-Time Doorstep Trash Collection Specialist - Weekends

Front Desk Concierge (Part-Time / Weekend)

EHS Specialist

Area Manager, Early Career (2027) - AR, MS, OK, LA

Warehouse Worker - Central NJ-OCS (collapsed into 763300000)

Amazon Customer Service Representative (Remote)

Remote Customer Service Specialist

Heavy Equipment Operator

Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Jobs in Tucson, AZ — $19–$21/hr, Flexible Shifts

Remote Travel Booking Agent (Flexible Schedule)

Pathways Operations Manager Intern - Summer 2027 - Now Hiring

Supervisory Transportation Security Officer

Paid Panel Immediate Start - Remote Part-Time - Customer Service Representative Welcome