Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, API Platform)

Perplexity; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking a backend engineer to design, build, and operate high‑performance APIs and platform infrastructure. You will contribute to gateway routing, authentication, quotas, metering, deployment workflows, and API governance, while improving security and reliability for a growing developer ecosystem.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in backend engineering with Python, Go, or Rust, and hands‑on experience with high traffic APIs, CI/CD, and end‑to‑end platform ownership to support

Qualifications

• Requires 5+ years of backend engineering experience with Python, Go, or Rust.
• Hands‑on experience building platforms or infrastructure for engineering teams.
• Experience with high‑traffic APIs, gateways and routing, API governance, CI/CD and progressive delivery.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate high‑performance APIs and platform infrastructure.
• Improve platform security, reliability, and developer experience.
• Collaborate across teams to scale services and support emerging AI capabilities.

Skills

Backend Engineering

Python

Go

Rust

API Design

API Gateways

Distributed Systems

Authentication/Authorization

Rate Limiting

API Governance

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Helm

Infrastructure as Code

Performance Optimization

Observability

Tools

Kubernetes

Helm

Infrastructure as Code

Job description

Design, build, and operate high-performance APIs and platform infrastructure, including gateway routing, authentication, quotas, metering, deployment workflows, and API governance. Improve platform security, reliability, and developer experience while collaborating across teams to scale services and support emerging AI capabilities.

Requirements: Requires 5+ years of backend engineering experience with Python, Go, or Rust, including substantial experience building platforms or infrastructure for engineering teams. Candidates should have hands‑on expertise in high‑traffic APIs, gateways and routing, API governance, CI/CD and progressive delivery, and end‑to‑end platform ownership.

Key Skills: Backend Engineering, Python, Go, Rust, API Design, API Gateways, Distributed Systems, Authentication and Authorization, Rate Limiting, API Governance, CI/CD, Kubernetes, Helm, Infrastructure as Code, Performance Optimization, Observability