Machine Learning Intern

Job Description

About the Role
This is a 12-week paid machine learning intern role in the Advance Technology Group, focusing on developing cutting-edge visual understanding modules and recommender systems for Pinterest. You will be exposed to the full spectrum of ML product development, conducting research, engaging in collaborations, and deploying features to millions of users or preparing for paper submissions.

What You’ll Do
• Develop and launch new user features using unique internal datasets and ML techniques, especially in recommendation systems, computer vision, representation learning, generative AI, and responsible AI.
• Gain hands-on experience with production ML systems, including algorithmic research, infrastructure, data engineering, training, inference, and product, to deliver innovative solutions, exposed to full-stack production ML systems.
• Leverage frontier AI tools and agents to accelerate engineering implementation, including prototyping and experimentation work.
• Validate AI-generated outputs through testing, code review, and critical thinking, ensuring solutions are accurate, maintainable, secure, and aligned with team standards.
• Use AI to better understand unfamiliar code, investigate bugs, and summarize technical context or documentation.
• Contribute in cutting-edge research in machine learning and artificial intelligence that can be applied to Pinterest problems.
• Write clean, efficient, and sustainable code.
• Take proactive ownership over the completion and quality of your tasks and project with minimal guidance from your mentor, manager, and peers.

You’re a Good Fit If You
• Have experience in Computer Vision, Visual Search, User Understanding, Recommendation Systems, Reinforcement Learning, ML efficiency optimization, Generative AI, and LLMs.
• Are able to legally work full time (40 hours/week) from September-December 2026.
• Are working towards a PhD degree in Computer Science, ML, NLP, Statistics, Information Sciences or related field.
• Have mastery of at least one systems language (Java, C++, Python) and one ML framework (Tensorflow, Pytorch, MLFlow).
• Have proficiency with AI-native engineering, including the design of agent-friendly codebases.
• Have a high degree of autonomy in learning new agent-first development tools.
• Demonstrate strong critical thinking when working with AI-generated suggestions, with a clear approach to validating correctness, performance, security, and maintainability.
• Are comfortable iterating on prompts, refining workflows, and adapting AI-assisted approaches based on the problem, context, and constraints.
• Have experience in research and in solving analytical problems.
• Are a strong communicator and team player, able to find solutions for open-ended problems.

Bonus Qualifications
• Publications in machine learning, AI, data science, data analytics, statistics, or related technical fields.
• Strong passion for research and for answering hard questions with research.
• Passion for applied ML and the Pinterest product.

Role Highlights & Compensation
• The salary for this position is $12,100 monthly.
• Internships are 12 weeks paid from September 21 – December 11, 2026.
• Contribute to projects that impact millions of users worldwide.
• Learn from and be guided by experienced engineers and researchers in the field.
• Participate in professional development workshops and networking events to build your skills and connections.
• Located either remote or hybrid in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York or Seattle offices.
• US based applicants only.
• Pinterest is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit, committed to inclusion.