Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Applied AI)

Perplexity; New York (NY); On-site; USD 220,000 - 405,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking an Applied AI Engineer to design, build, and iterate on frontier agents powering our core Perplexity Computer experience. You will own the full model lifecycle from research to production, collaborating with engineers, PMs, data scientists, and designers to ship impactful AI features.

The role emphasizes state-of-the-art ML/LLM techniques, experimentation, and staying at the forefront of AI innovation to improve user experience and engagement.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building and shipping AI products for large-scale user-facing or data-driven apps.
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and production-quality codebases.
• Experience with end-to-end AI lifecycle: data analysis, evaluation, monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Apply state-of-the-art ML and LLM techniques to solve problems in personalization, recommendations and monetization.
• Build auto research harness for offline and online experiments; design metrics and experiments.

Skills

Python programming

Agent development

Cross-functional collaboration

ML lifecycle

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS/Engineering

Tools

LLM tooling

Agentic coding tools

Job description

Perplexity is looking for an Applied AI Engineer to design, build, and iterate on cutting-edge agents powering our core experience in Perplexity Computer. Working in this mission critical team, you will develop frontier context layer applications - fulfilling the curiosity of millions of users across the globe.

Key Responsibilities

• Apply state-of-the-art ML and LLM techniques to solve problems spanning:
  • Personalization (LLM memory, context summarization, retrieval and ranking);
  • Contextual recommendations and Monetization applications
  • Build frontier agent capabilities on top of Perplexity Computer
• Build auto research harness for both offline and online techniques, designing experiments and metrics that provide deep insight into quality and impact.
• Own the entire model lifecycle from research to production: data analysis, modeling, evaluation, offline/online A/B testing, and iterative improvement and build autonomous harness for agent squad to explore different problem spaces.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineers, PMs, data scientists, and designers to ensure our AI drives meaningful product improvements.
• Stay at the forefront of ML/AI innovation by evaluating and incorporating emerging research and algorithms into the product lifecycle.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years experience building and shipping robust AI products for large-scale, user-facing or data-driven products.
• Strong software engineering skills (Python, production-quality codebases, collaborative development) and experience using agentic coding tools for large scale parallel developments.
• In-depth experience with the full AI lifecycle: data analysis, rigorous evaluation, and ongoing monitoring/improvement.
• Proven collaborator and communicator; excels in high-velocity, cross-functional teams.
• Curious, driven by end-user/product impact, and passionate about advancing the state of applied ML and AI.
• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).

Bonus Points For

• Experience with LLM context engineering or harness engineering.
• Experience in mid-training or post-training frontier open source models
• Experience in large scale user-centric and content-centric personalization challenges (user modeling, retrieval, content ranking, etc).

Compensation Range: $220K - $405K