Senior Cinematographer, Brand Studio

Apply; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking a Senior Cinematographer to define and translate our visual identity into a practical cinematographic language. Working with the Creative Director and Video Lead, you will bring our brand to life across the team’s day-to-day output.

This hands-on role covers shooting, lighting, and leading a crew, with responsibilities from pre-production through capture. You’ll help build an in-house studio, select gear, design flexible lighting setups, and sometimes assist with light

Qualifications

• 6+ years as a cinematographer or DP across branded, commercial, documentary, and interview work.
• A standout reel showing lighting craft, camera movement, and honest moments.
• A strong point of view with ability to strengthen an existing brand.
• Deep command of camera systems, lenses, exposure, color pipelines, lighting, grip, and on-set monitoring.
• Genuinely hands-on: building a camera, shaping light, operating, troubleshooting, and leading a crew.
• Experience briefing and leading freelance crews and vendors on set.

Responsibilities

• Define cinematographic language and repeatable lighting/lensing approaches.
• Shoot and light a steady mix of day-to-day content: office moments, interviews, demos.
• Lead cinematography on brand films, campaigns, partnerships, and launches.
• Scale to solo work or lead a small crew or full production team.
• Bring storytelling ideas via moodboards, shot lists, and storyboards.
• Own camera, lighting decisions from development to capture.
• Recommend crew and equipment; producers handle budgets and logistics.
• Help design, build, and run the in-house studio.
• Own the team’s gear and ready-to-shoot packages.
• Handle color grading in DaVinci Resolve and light edits when needed.
• Maintain high visual standards across formats and crew sizes.

Skills

Cinematography

Lighting design

Camera operation

DaVinci Resolve

Crew leadership

Storytelling

Color grading

Branded content

Tools

Camera gear setup

Lenses selection

Live monitoring gear

Job description

We’re looking for a Senior Cinematographer to define how Perplexity looks on film. Working with the Creative Director and Video Lead, you’ll translate our visual identity into a practical cinematographic language, then bring it to life across the team’s day-to-day output.

This is a hands-on role. One day you’re shooting a candid office moment or executive interview with a small kit; the next, you’re leading a full camera and lighting crew on a brand film. Most of your time goes to prepping, testing, lighting, and shooting.

You’ll also help build and run our in-house studio, from selecting gear and designing flexible lighting setups to keeping the space production-ready. When turnaround is tight, you’ll support media management and light editing.

You’ll report to the Video Lead and work closely with the Video Producer, Brand Lead, designers, motion designers, Growth, Comms, Product Marketing, and external production partners. The Producer and Video Lead handle crewing, budgets, schedules, and logistics so you can stay focused on production and craft. However, you should think like a storyteller, not just a technician, bringing your own ideas for how to show our product and people more vividly through moodboards, shot lists, storyboards, and a willingness to experiment.

What You'll Do

• Partner with the Creative Director and Video Lead to define and evolve Perplexity’s cinematographic language, and turn it into repeatable approaches for lighting, lensing, composition, movement, and color.

• Shoot and light a steady mix of day-to-day content: candid office moments, executive interviews, product demos, social, events, and documentary stories.

• Lead cinematography on brand films, campaigns, partnerships, and launches.

• Scale to the work: operate solo with a minimal kit, lead a small crew, or help build a full camera, lighting, grip, team (with help from producers).

• Bring storytelling ideas to the table through moodboards, shot lists, storyboards, and experimentation.

• Own camera, lighting, and movement decisions from creative development through capture: build packages, run tests and tech scouts, and solve constraints before the shoot.

• Recommend crew and equipment for each production and lead the camera and lighting departments on set. Producers handle budgets, schedules, contracts, and logistics.

• Help design, build, and run the in-house studio, including lighting, audio, grip, and monitoring.

• Own the team’s gear: recommend, purchase, organize, and maintain it, with ready-to-shoot packages so no setup gets rebuilt from scratch.

• Handle color grading in DaVinci Resolve, and support selects, stringouts, and light edits when turnaround is tight.

• Keep the visual standard high across formats and crew sizes without overbuilding.

What We’re Looking For

• 6+ years as a cinematographer or DP across branded, commercial, documentary, and interview work.

• A standout reel showing visual authorship, lighting craft, camera movement, and an eye for honest, unscripted moments.

• A strong point of view, paired with the sensitivity to work within and strengthen an existing brand.

• Deep command of camera systems, lenses, exposure, color pipelines, lighting, grip, and on-set monitoring.

• Genuinely hands‑on: equally comfortable building a camera, shaping light, operating, troubleshooting, and leading a crew.

• The judgment to make premium images under real constraints, solo with a small kit or leading a full production.

• Strong pre‑production instincts: turning a creative idea into a technically sound, right‑sized plan.

• Experience briefing and leading freelance crews and vendors on set, and managing professional production equipment.

• Working proficiency in DaVinci Resolve for color grading, selects, and light edits.

• Collaborative and low‑ego. You bring a strong opinion, take direction, and solve problems with partners.

• Comfortable moving fast in an ambiguous, high‑output environment without compromising craft, safety, or footage.

• Based in or able to work on‑site in San Francisco, with flexibility for travel and long shoot days.

Nice to Have

• A strong Bay Area and Los Angeles network of camera, lighting, grip, sound, production, and rental partners.

• Experience within an in‑house brand studio at a technology or consumer company.

• Strong documentary instincts and experience working with founders, executives, talent, or people who are not professional performers.

• Experience with multi‑camera interviews, live events, tabletop or product cinematography, motion‑control systems, or virtual production.

• Color‑grading experience and a strong understanding of how capture decisions carry through finishing and delivery.