Staff AI Systems Engineer – Model Serving & Infra

Perplexity; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 405,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity AI is seeking a deeply technical software engineer to own and evolve our model serving platform, connecting products and research systems with inference layers. This mission-critical system provides teams a fast, reliable interface across providers.

You will work at the intersection of distributed systems, AI products, and infrastructure, writing production Rust and Python for a service that serves hundreds of millions of model requests daily.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building and shipping large-scale systems with high reliability and performance.
• Proficiency with backend languages and cloud infrastructure; experience across Python, Rust, C++, Go, AWS, and Kubernetes.
• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or related fields (or equivalent experience).

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Perplexity's model serving platform, connecting products and research systems with inference layers.
• Design core abstractions and lead technical decisions; write production Rust and Python for a service handling hundreds of millions of model requests per day.

Skills

Large-scale systems

Backend development

Production systems design

Cloud infrastructure

Software craftsmanship

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS/Engineering or related fields

Tools

Python

Rust

C++

Go

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

Perplexity AI is seeking a deeply technical software engineer to own and evolve our model serving platform, connecting products and research systems with inference layers. This mission-critical system provides teams a fast, reliable interface across providers.

You will work at the intersection of distributed systems, AI products, and infrastructure, writing production Rust and Python for a service that serves hundreds of millions of model requests daily.