Staff Software Engineer (Edge)
Posted
Summary
Staff Software Engineer on Pinterest's Edge team, leading automation traffic (bot/crawler) management and the rate limiting platform. Day-to-day: design and implement Envoy request processing in C++, Golang, and Python; build CDN/DNS/TLS edge systems; mentor engineers; join oncall and incident response.
- The Edge team owns the systems (including CDN, TLS, DNS, ingress/egress proxy fleet, and rate limiting) that connect 600M+ users to Pinterest
- We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead our efforts to manage automation traffic (such as bots and crawlers) at the Edge, while shaping the future of our rate limiting platform.
- Build Edge systems that combine in-house implementation, open-source software like Envoy proxy, and multiple CDN & DNS providers. Balance what to build, what to leverage from the community, and what to orchestrate across vendors
- Drive automation traffic management efforts in the Edge space, designing solutions to manage bots and crawlers at scale
- Design and implement request processing logic in Envoy to support Edge capabilities such as routing, traffic classification, and enforcement. Write, review, and maintain code written in C++, Golang, and Python
- Collaborate with CDN vendors and internal platform teams to define integration points
- Study internal user pain points with the rate limiting platform and translate findings into a prioritized roadmap
- Mentor engineers within the team and demonstrate technical leadership through design reviews, pairing, and coaching
- Use AI to accelerate prototyping, analysis, and operational tasks, while applying engineering judgment to verify correctness and production-readiness
- Participate in oncall for Edge systems and drive incident response, post-mortems, and reliability improvements
- Proficiency in C++, Golang, or Python, with experience developing L7 HTTP proxies such as Envoy, Nginx, Varnish, and Traefik
- Deep understanding of network protocols across L3-L7 and hands-on experience debugging production networking issues at scale
- Proven ability to design distributed systems architectures and drive them from proposal through proof of concept to production
- Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
- Experience gathering requirements from internal users, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, and delivering credible technical plans
- Demonstrated experience using AI to accelerate engineering workflows (design exploration, code generation, operational analysis), with a clear approach to validating correctness and quality
- 6+ years of experience in infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering, with a deep focus on traffic management systems (CDN, HTTP gateways, service mesh, or load balancing)
- Experience with bot detection, scraping prevention, or automation traffic management systems is a plus