Member of Technical Staff (Machine Learning Engineer, Ranking Quality - Search) at Perplexity (Belgrade, Serbia)
Perplexity· Belgrade, Serbia·
Role details
Perplexity at a glance
AI-powered answer engine that returns real-time, cited answers, now expanding into an agentic browser and on-device agents.
Perplexity runs an AI answer engine that searches the live web and returns direct, cited answers instead of a page of links. It has extended that core into an AI browser (Comet), an on-device agent (Computer), a developer API, and vertical tools like patent search.
$1.7B raised · latest: Series E extension · $200M · 2025 (reported $20B valuation) · backed by Accel, IVP, NEA, SoftBank Vision Fund 2
Job description
Perplexity is seeking an experienced Machine Learning Engineer to improve search quality across the middle and later stages of ranking. We are looking for a strong ranking generalist who can own ambiguous problems end to end and brings exceptional depth in either neural ranking or production ranking systems.
Responsibilities
- Push search quality forward through models, data, evaluation, infrastructure, or any other leverage available.
- Own ranking-quality problems end to end: define the evaluation, identify the bottleneck, build the solution, and ship it safely.
- Train and evaluate retrieval, ranking, and classification models, including neural and LLM-based approaches where appropriate.
- Build and operate ranking infrastructure, including feature computation, low-latency inference, multi-stage cascades, deployment, and monitoring.
- Make sound trade-offs across quality, latency, reliability, cost, and engineering complexity.
- Collaborate across Data, AI, Infrastructure, and Product while retaining ownership of the final quality outcome.
Qualifications
- Deep understanding of search or recommender systems and their evaluation.
- Proven ownership of a large-scale production ranking system or a substantial class of quality problems.
- Strong machine learning and software engineering skills across data, models, serving, and monitoring.
- Ability to drive ambiguous, cross-team problems without continuous task decomposition.
- Exceptional depth in either modern neural ranking methods or low-latency ranking systems and runtime.
Why work at Perplexity
- 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.