Machine Learning Engineer / Economist, Ads Marketplace

Within the Ads Delivery team, we try to connect the dots between the aspirations of Pinners and the products offered by our partners. We are looking for a Machine Learning Engineer/Economist with a strong theoretical and data analysis background that understands market design concepts and has the engineering skills to bring them to market. We are looking for an economist who can get their hands dirty and work side by side with other engineers, to advance the efficiency of the Pinterest Marketplace. The nature of projects within this team require a deep understanding of trade-offs, founded on both economic theory and data analysis, from the ideation phase all the way to launch review. 

What you’ll do:

• Build statistical models and production systems to improve marketplace design and operations for Pinners, Partners, and Pinterest.
• Tune marketplace parameters (e.g., utility function), optimize ad diversity and load, implement auctions, and model long‑term effects to reduce ad fatigue and improve advertiser outcomes.
• Define and implement experiments to understand long term Marketplace effects.
• Develop strategies to balance long and short term business objectives.
• Drive multi-functional collaboration with peers and partners across the company to improve knowledge of marketplace design and operations.
• Application areas: marketplace performance analysis, advertiser churn/retention modeling, promotional bandwidth allocation, ranking/pricing/mechanism design, bidding/budgeting innovation, and anticipating second‑order effects for new ad offerings.

What we’re looking for:

• Degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Economics, Operations Research, Statistics or a related field.
• Industry experience in applying economics or machine learning to real products (e.g., ads auctions, pricing, marketplaces, or large‑scale recommendation/search systems).
• Knowledge in auction theory, market design, and econometrics with excellent data analysis skills.
• Strong software engineering and mathematical skills and proficient with statistical methods.
• Experience with online experimentation and causal inference (A/B testing, long‑running experiments, or similar) in large‑scale systems.
• Practical understanding of machine learning algorithms and techniques.
• Impact‑driven, highly collaborative, and an effective communicator; prior ads or two‑sided marketplace experience strongly preferred.

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.

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