Pinterest pictures Chicago in its plan to start making money.
The popular photo-sharing site — which people use to plan everything from weddings to dinner — is establishing a sales force here as it figures out how to generate revenue, something the San Francisco-based company currently does not do.
Four-year-old Pinterest has raised $565 million in funding and is valued at nearly $4 billion.
“We started our first monetization experiment last year, and we’re opening an office in Chicago to get people on the ground working with advertisers,” company spokeswoman Annie Ta said via e-mail.
Pinterest, which employs about 140 workers, is looking to fill account and partner manager positions in Chicago. The company declined to say how many people it plans to hire. Employees will be based out of unspecified co-working spaces in River North.
Like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is selling “promoted” advertising — specifically, pins — in users’ feeds.
Account managers, according to the job opening posted on the company’s website, should have a “passion for Pinterest” and at least eight years of experience in a client-facing role, preferably in the media. Partner managers have a simple mandate, per the job description: “Drive and grow new business revenue with top potential advertisers.”
The company is also in the process of setting up a sales office in New York, where it’ll be based out of co-working spaces in Bryant Park.
