Staff Software Engineer, Connector Platform

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

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking a backend-focused engineer to drive the Connector Platform’s runtime and connectors, enabling agents to reach into enterprise software with confidence.

You will extend the semantic layer, design tool discovery and selection mechanisms, and ensure robust agent loops with strong observability and security in mind. This role emphasizes collaboration with product and AI teams in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and building production backend systems (4+ years for mid-level, more for senior/staff).
• Strong system design skills with scalable architectures and multi-downstream integration experience.
• Proficiency in Python, Go, or Rust and ability to work in multi-language environments.
• Hands-on experience with modern infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes, and related cloud tech).
• Depth in OAuth, authorization protocols, API/connector or MCP-server development, schema/semantic modeling, or LLAm-based tooling/evaluation.
• Comfort working in security-sensitive areas and balancing safety, simplicity, and velocity.
• Collaborative mindset with willingness to tackle hard, ambiguous problems.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and implementation of the connector runtime and hosted tools behind a single agent-facing interface.
• Extend the semantic layer: tool schemas, capability metadata, and knowledge corrections.
• Design tool-discovery and tool-selection surfaces for accurate model calls and context efficiency.
• Ensure agent loops are robust with structured results, partial failures, retries, and observability.
• Define authentication, authorization, and credential isolation patterns in collaboration with Security and Backend Platform.
• Build onboarding paths with schemas and evaluation suites to ship quality connectors.
• Set SLAs, observability, error-rate monitoring, and incident response for a high-fan-out surface.
• Partner with product and AI teams to define connector interfaces and integration patterns.

Skills

Backend design

System design

Python/Go/Rust

Cloud infra (AWS/Kubernetes)

OAuth/authorization

Security-conscious

Collaborative problem-solving

Job description

Perplexity is seeking a backend-focused engineer to drive the Connector Platform’s runtime and connectors, enabling agents to reach into enterprise software with confidence.

You will extend the semantic layer, design tool discovery and selection mechanisms, and ensure robust agent loops with strong observability and security in mind. This role emphasizes collaboration with product and AI teams in a fast-paced environment.