---
title: 'Design Systems Lead at Perplexity'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/design-systems-lead-perplexity-san-francisco-6qzmktkzb6wh'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Design Systems Lead at Perplexity

- **Company:** [Perplexity](https://feeny.ai/companies/perplexity)
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $220k–$280k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-07-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/perplexity/3d277236-2cf3-4a59-b435-71540cc05712

## Job description

## ABOUT THE ROLE

We're seeking a Design Systems Lead with extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations. You'll bootstrap an intuitive semantic token system that supports design and product teams across multiple platforms and frameworks - the foundation that keeps Perplexity's product coherent as we scale.

This is a true 50/50 design-engineer role. You'll live primarily in GitHub, where you own the system's repo, while staying fluent in Figma so design and engineering never drift apart. You'll set the bar for visual quality and the technical standards that let feature teams move fast without fragmenting the experience.

You'll work at the intersection of design and engineering, partnering with product feature teams across mobile, web, and React surfaces.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Bootstrap and own an intuitive semantic token system that works across multiple platforms and frameworks
- Own the design system repo on GitHub: the source of truth for components, tokens, and standards, including versioning, release management, and a clear changelog
- Set and uphold a high bar for visual design quality across every surface the system touches
- Navigate the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices, and encode them into the system
- Define and run the contribution model and governance: review and shepherd inbound contributions from product feature teams, keeping quality and consistency high as the system grows
- Keep design and engineering in sync, bridging Figma and code so the system stays coherent end-to-end
- Own clear, first-class documentation so teams can adopt components and tokens on their own, and drive adoption across the org through onboarding, office hours, and hands-on support
- Bake in accessibility (WCAG) and theming (including dark mode) as defaults, not afterthoughts
- Maintain a system roadmap, balancing net-new work, migrations, and deprecations against feature-team needs
- Bring new AI tooling into the design systems workflow and help shape how we build systems in an AI-native way
- Operate with autonomy in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment

## WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

- Extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations
- A true 50/50 design-engineer, equally credible in visual craft and in code
- An impeccable eye for visual design
- Deep understanding of the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices
- Strong product sensibilities to help evaluate and integrate contributions from various product feature teams
- Fluency in Figma, but primarily living in GitHub where you own the repo
- Experience designing and maintaining semantic design tokens and scalable component APIs
- A track record of driving adoption through excellent documentation and cross-functional partnership
- Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how to build them into a system
- Readiness to work with new AI tooling and genuine comfort with ambiguity

## NICE TO HAVE

- Experience building a semantic token system from scratch across multiple platforms
- A track record scaling a design system through a period of fast org growth
- Experience defining contribution models and governance for multi-team design systems
- Familiarity with component tooling and documentation platforms (e.g., Storybook)
- Experience mentoring designers and engineers and growing a design systems practice

## About Perplexity

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Perplexity builds an AI-powered answer engine that delivers accurate, real-time answers to any question, serving curious minds and professionals who demand precision and speed.
- **Entity Type**: Private (total funding $1.7B across 16 rounds)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, Andy Konwinski

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI-powered search and knowledge retrieval, Software Development
- **Target customers**: B2C (general users), B2B (enterprise API customers), and power users seeking reliable information
- **Mission**: “AI for people who expect more – more accuracy, more agency, more signal, less noise.”

## Products & Services
- **Perplexity AI (Free Tier)**: Real-time conversational search engine that synthesizes web results with citations, accessible via web and mobile app. *Type*: SaaS
- **Perplexity Pro**: Subscription offering enhanced features such as advanced AI models, multimodal search, and increased usage limits. *Type*: SaaS (subscription)
- **Perplexity API Platform**: Enables developers to integrate Perplexity’s search and reasoning capabilities into their own applications. *Type*: API
- **Perplexity Browser Extension**: Brings AI-powered search directly into the browser for quick answers without leaving the page. *Type*: Browser extension

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available in provided sources (prior reports indicate ~$9B valuation as of 2024, but not confirmed in this data set)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding $1.7B (16 rounds); annual revenue ~$50M (LinkedIn estimate)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not explicitly listed in provided search results; widely known investors include IVP, NEA, Jeff Bezos, and others (not sourced here)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 11.3% YoY to 1,152 employees; operates in 54 countries; LinkedIn followers grew 131.8% yearly to >1.6M; active hiring across 48+ open roles including AI Research, Engineering, and Go-to-Market teams

## Competitive Advantages
- **Real-time, cited answers**: Unlike traditional chatbots, Perplexity grounds answers in live web results with transparent sources, building trust and accuracy.
- **Multimodal and agentic capabilities**: Continuously pushes frontier research (e.g., query-aware context compression, agents for knowledge work) that differentiates from generic LLM interfaces.
- **Vertical integration from research to product**: In-house AI research team tackles open problems unique to Perplexity’s scale, enabling fast iteration on novel methods.
- **Strong brand and user base**: Rapid consumer adoption with millions of monthly active users and high engagement.

## Strategic Focus
- **Pushing the frontier of search**: Evolving from retrieval services to code generation, agents, and full autonomy in knowledge work.
- **Expanding enterprise and API revenue**: Growing B2B footprint with API platform and enterprise solutions.
- **Global hiring and office expansion**: Offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York, Austin, Washington D.C., London, Berlin, and Belgrade, with “4 days in office” hybrid model.
- **Investing in AI research**: Dedicated research division (Perplexity Research) exploring reasoning, agents, and systems to redefine how people navigate the internet.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Environment**: “Thoughtful support” culture with emphasis on craftsmanship, ownership, entrepreneurship, scholarship, and partnership. Hybrid schedule (4 days in-office) based on location.
- **Perks**: Daily catered meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner in office), office snacks, ride home program, commuter benefits, home office reimbursement, fitness classes, gym memberships.
- **Compensation & Benefits**: Competitive salary and equity packages; retirement plans with company match; flexible PTO; holiday shutdown between Christmas and New Year; 12 weeks paid bonding leave; comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
- **Relocation & Visa Support**: Relocation assistance and visa/green card sponsorship for eligible roles. Partners with immigration firm to support the process.
- **Engineering Excellence**: “Technical assessment for relevant roles”; values hands-on contribution, broad skill sets, and merit-based evaluation. Frequent Tech Talks and exposure to greenfield AI research problems.

## Sources
1. [perplexity.ai/hub/careers](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/careers)
2. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/perplexity](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/perplexity)
3. [perplexity.ai](https://www.perplexity.ai/)
4. [linkedin.com/company/perplexity-ai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/perplexity-ai)
5. [research.perplexity.ai](https://research.perplexity.ai/)

## Other roles at Perplexity

- [Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Infrastructure)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-software-engineer-infrastructure-perplexity-san-phdw5wsw1ys9) — San Francisco, CA
- [Virtual Events Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/virtual-events-manager-perplexity-san-francisco-9z3wjardvdqq) — San Francisco, CA
- [Field Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/field-marketing-manager-perplexity-san-francisco-3dfbnq1x8c0j) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Manager, SMB Growth](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-smb-growth-perplexity-san-francisco-kd2qx39ttej6) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Manager, Mobile Apps](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-mobile-apps-perplexity-san-francisco-v9491j337kha) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Manager, AI Capabilities](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-ai-capabilities-perplexity-san-francisco-n1xpbf9crx7x) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Manager, Growth](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-growth-perplexity-san-francisco-bfyfj56nx1hk) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Manager, Core Experience](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-core-experience-perplexity-new-york-mm01d1n10g8h) — New York, NY
- [Motion Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/motion-designer-perplexity-new-york-k6wvzd3d4mam) — New York, NY
- [Brand Designer, Growth](https://feeny.ai/job/brand-designer-growth-perplexity-san-francisco-75m10qjkqy8a) — San Francisco, CA