Senior Cinematographer - Brand Studio Lead

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

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