Spotlight on Zurich: Meet Florian Buron, Director, Engineering

In our Spotlight on Zurich series, we’re meeting the people behind the product in Switzerland. Next up, meet Florian Buron, Director of Engineering. Florian tells us more about his experience joining Pinterest in early 2026, his advice to other senior leaders hoping to join the team and how the Shopping team helps us bring users from inspiration to action. 

What intrigued you about the opportunity to join Pinterest? 

After two decades at another tech company, I wanted to embark on a new challenge. Talking to several Pinterest employees got me very excited both about the opportunity and the culture. It made me feel like it was the right time to join the team. 

We opened our Zurich office in 2025. What excited you about joining the Zurich team at Pinterest and what has stood out to you about Pinterest’s culture since joining? 

Starting a new office is a lot of fun, and folks are in the office most days. It’s somewhat magical to know everyone, have lunch with them and just build things up from the ground together.

Culture wise, there is a lot of echo with a startup culture, and we are all working together to make the world a better place.

If you could go back and talk to yourself right before you accepted this role, what would you tell yourself? And what would you say to a senior engineering leader who's considering making the move to Pinterest Zurich?

I would tell myself: “Join, it is going to be exciting and fun!” To a potential new senior engineering leader, I would pitch the two things I like so much about Pinterest so far: the great culture and the potential. The fact that we are just scratching the surface on what we can do as a company and what you can do as an individual creates a fantastic opportunity to make an impact. 

What is the Shopping team's mission? How does it connect to the broader Pinterest user experience? 

Our goal is to translate inspiration into action by making sure that when the user is inspired, they can actually purchase what they want. 

It’s about completing the workflow. Pinterest is an amazing inspiration tool which is fabulous at helping users find what they’re looking for, even when they don’t have the words to describe it, and make confident decisions. The shopping experience is a joyful user journey that enables them to buy the things needed to realize their inspirations.

What's one thing you wish more people in the industry understood about Pinterest as a company?

Our goal is to help advertisers understand that Pinterest is an AI-powered visual search and discovery platform that powers shopping decisions. People come to Pinterest with purpose: to plan, refine and take action on what they want to do or buy next. That is what makes it so valuable for advertisers. With 96% of top searches unbranded, brands have the opportunity to show up early while preferences are still being shaped, and for me that is Pinterest’s real differentiator. 

How are you currently using Pinterest to find inspiration? 

I am using Pinterest a lot for organizing my kids birthdays!