Pinterest have announced a next step in its international growth journey: the opening of a new Engineering Excellence Hub in Zurich, alongside the appointments of Matthias Zenger (VP, Engineering – Platforms) and Mirjam Wattenhofer (Distinguished Engineer) – two of the DACH region’s most respected technology leaders.
The new Zurich hub underscores the platform’s commitment to leveraging pioneering AI and machine learning to enhance every stage of the user journey – from inspiration to purchase. Located in one of Europe’s top tech ecosystems, the new team in Zurich spearhead innovation in AI and shopping infrastructure, while building upon our existing successes including:
- Pinterest’s proprietary visual search technology, which now outperforms leading LLMs in identifying and recommending relevant content by 30%.
- Pinterest’s unique taste graph, the foundation of its AI model – which has grown by 75% in two years to map over 80 billion users’ signals including searches, saves, Pins and clicks, to help us understand users’ evolving preferences and needs.
- Ads relevance on Pinterest, which has doubled over the last two years for top ad slots in the search feed – all powered by AI.
Matthias Zenger joins Pinterest as VP, Engineering – Platforms. In this role, Matthias oversees Pinterest’s technical infrastructure and foundational engineering platforms, enabling global-scale innovation across the company. Matthias brings 25 years’ of experience in software engineering, distributed systems and commerce technologies.
Mirjam Wattenhofer, Distinguished Engineer, will lead efforts to enhance Pinterest’s e-commerce technology and global user experiences. A globally recognized and respected industry expert in building robust shopping architectures. Mirjam will accelerate progress in scaling and building out the e-commerce capabilities and the infrastructure for inclusive AI.
At Pinterest, we’ve seen first-hand how AI is transforming the way people discover and shop for ideas they love. By focusing on AI-powered solutions that connect users’ unique tastes with inspiration, we’re creating a more personalised experience for them and delivering meaningful results for partners worldwide. With over half a billion people coming to Pinterest every month, harnessing AI is essential to provide relevant, inspiring experiences at scale.
This expansion is a key part of Pinterest’s mission, and I’m truly excited to welcome exceptional talent like Matthias and Mirjam. Their extensive experience will help take Pinterest’s AI and shopping innovation to the next level.
– Matt Madrigal, Chief Technology Officer, Pinterest
2025 continues Pinterest’s upward trajectory. In Q2, the platform reported $998M in revenue (up 17% YoY) and a record 578 million global monthly active users. More than half of the user base is Gen Z, and men comprise over a third of the audience. European revenue grew 34% YoY, with even faster growth in Rest of World markets, demonstrating the power of Pinterest’s global, AI-driven approach. Advancements like visual search and Pinterest Performance+ are already in-market, along with AI-powered personalization seamlessly integrated with shopping in a uniquely positive environment. The Zurich hub will anchor the next wave of AI-driven innovation at Pinterest as they prepare to introduce new products and experiments to the platform.
