Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Computer)

Perplexity; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is hiring an engineer in San Francisco to build products that enhance human productivity through AI. You will be responsible for designing and overseeing product and platform systems, leading projects from definition to launch, and working closely with engineers and product managers. Ideal candidates will have 4+ years of software engineering experience, strong skills in a programming language, and a passion for AI. This role offers the opportunity to work in a fast-paced environment focused on innovation.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong experience in at least one general-purpose programming language.
• Experience building and operating production systems at scale.
• Strong product judgment to solve user problems.
• Genuine interest in AI products.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and own product and platform systems for Computer.
• Lead features and projects from definition to launch.
• Continuously iterate to improve products for customers.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Build systems that consider the nuances of AI.

Skills

Software engineering experience

Programming languages (Python, Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Swift, Rust, Java, C++)

Building production systems

Product judgment

Interest in AI products

Job description

We are hiring builders to join our highly leveraged engineering team for creating new products that innovate and accelerate human productivity

As an engineer at Perplexity, your role will be to build products and systems that define how AI empowers humans to think, decide and act. You’ll ship fast and work between product, infrastructure and frontier level advancements in technology.

What you'll do

• Design, build, and own product and platform systems for Computer
• Lead features, projects and products end-to-end, from problem definition to technical design, implementation, and launch.
• Hill climb on hard problems, continuously iterating to improve for ourselves and customers.
• Partner closely with engineers, product managers, designers, data scientists, and go-to-market teams.
• Build systems that take into account the nuances of AI, working with agents, context, evaluation, personalization and the ground truth.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong experience in at least one general-purpose programming language such as Python, Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Swift, Rust, Java, or C++.
• Experience building and operating production systems at a meaningful scale.
• Strong product judgment and the ability to translate user problems into simple, effective technical solutions.
• Genuine interest and adoption of AI products and willingness to learn quickly.

Nice to have

• Experience with LLMs, agents, retrieval systems, personalization, or evaluation frameworks.
• Time spent at a fast-growing startup or on a high-ownership engineering team.
• Founded a company or initiative.