People Behind the Product: Meet Deep Kotecha, Sr. Software Engineer

Meet Deep Kotecha, Sr. Software Engineer, who started at Pinterest in early 2026. He joins Life at Pinterest to discuss working in Cloud Architecture, the culture of Pinterest Seattle and what someone considering an opportunity on the Engineering team should know about working here.

Hi Deep! You joined Pinterest in January 2026, what inspired you about the opportunity, and what made it feel like the right next step for you?

What drew me in was the scale and depth of engineering at Pinterest. The infrastructure problems here are genuinely interesting. The kind of large-scale, distributed systems problems that only show up at companies of this size, powering a product that millions of people rely on for inspiration. Moreover, I also wanted to be somewhere that treats cloud infrastructure as a first-class product rather than just software plumbing, and that mindset comes through in every conversation I have.

Which engineering team are you on, and how does your work in Cloud Architecture create impact for both users and teams across Pinterest? 

I'm on the Cloud Architecture team under Cloud Foundations. We build and maintain the foundational cloud infrastructure that every other engineering team at Pinterest depends on. Most Pinterest users will never see our work directly, but every image recommendation, every search, every saved Pin runs on infrastructure we design and develop. What makes the role especially exciting right now is the shift toward AI. We're supporting GPU fleets, LLM inference workloads and the next generation of ML-driven experiences baked right in the app. The goal is always the same: make it quicker, easier and safer for everyone across Pinterest to ship, whether they're training models or serving recommendations at scale.

Seattle is home to one of our beautiful Pinterest offices. What’s it like working there, and how have you found community on the Seattle team?

The Seattle office has a really collaborative energy. You recognize faces, and you're constantly bumping into people working on interesting problems outside of your immediate team. I've found a great community here through onsite lunches and just grabbing coffee with folks across different orgs and teams: infra, security, platform and beyond. Seattle also has a strong engineering presence, so conversations get real nerdy real fast, which is something I genuinely love. The South Lake Union view from the Seattle office is top tier as well. Also, coffee is legitimately excellent.

Before joining Pinterest, what were your expectations, and how has the reality compared so far?

I expected a thoughtful engineering culture and interesting technical problems; both have been true. What surprised me was how quickly I was trusted to lead meaningful projects, help shape technical direction, and collaborate with engineers and leaders across teams. A big part of that has been my manager; giving me the context and support I needed from day one, then trusting me to drive. There's a refreshing focus toward action here; people give you what you need and trust you to deliver.

What would you want someone considering a Seattle-based engineering role to know?

Come ready to own meaningful work early. Everyone here values independent judgment, clear writing and the ability to navigate ambiguity. If you enjoy being handed a complex, open-ended problem and figuring out the right path forward, you'll thrive here. The Seattle office offers a great balance: deep technical work, access to experienced technical leaders who genuinely invest in you and the kind of large-scale infrastructure challenges that are rare and hard to solve. 

How are you currently using Pinterest to find inspiration? 

Pinterest has actually become part of my life in a new way recently. I recently got engaged, and my fiancée has been planning most of our wedding through Pinterest. It's been really fun watching everything come together board by board. There's something special about working on the infrastructure behind a product that's actively showing up in your real life.

Inspired by Deep's story? Explore engineering opportunities and apply to create a career you love.