--- title: 'Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure) at Perplexity' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-software-engineer-cloud-infrastructure-perplexity-san-c4c7depjch8r' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-08' --- # Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure) at Perplexity - **Company:** [Perplexity](https://feeny.ai/companies/perplexity) - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $220k–$405k - **Employment:** full-time - **Posted:** 2026-06-03 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-08 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Perplexity/0d722589-0f8c-4500-ae79-d3bba5c8a0ea ## Job description ## About the Role The Cloud Infrastructure team owns the foundational cloud primitives and deployment models that power Perplexity's products, from multi-tenant public cloud to single-tenant and on-premises solutions for enterprise customers. As Perplexity grows its Computer and Enterprise products, this team builds and operates the security, isolation, and compliance layers that customers depend on. We provide the deployment topologies, multi‑region infrastructure, and core services that enable Perplexity to run reliably and efficiently for both consumer traffic and large enterprises. ## Key Responsibilities - Own the roadmap and technical strategy for agent-driven cloud infrastructure management. - Design and operate Perplexity’s cloud networking fabric, including VPC architectures, private connectivity, and peering with hyperscalers and neocloud providers to support low-latency, high-throughput AI workloads. - Architect and scale compute platforms (Kubernetes/EKS, autoscaling groups, and mixed CPU/GPU fleets) to efficiently serve online request traffic and background workloads across regions. - Build and maintain secure, isolated deployment topologies for multi-tenant, single-tenant, and customer‑owned cloud (BYOC) environments, including cross-account networking, identity, and policy guardrails. - Implement and evolve multi-region strategies for availability, failover, and data locality, including traffic routing, regional capacity planning, and disaster recovery playbooks. - Partner with security to deliver enterprise controls such as BYOK/KMS integrations, network isolation, and auditability required for regulated customers. - Develop automation, tooling, and runbooks that make day‑2 operations (provisioning, upgrades, incident response) predictable and repeatable for Perplexity products across all environments. ## Qualifications - Deep experience designing and operating cloud infrastructure on AWS (VPC design, routing, security groups, load balancing, private connectivity). - Strong background with Kubernetes/EKS and container orchestration, including multi‑cluster, multi‑region, or multi‑account setups. - Hands-on experience with cloud networking and peering (VPC peering, Transit Gateway, private link/service endpoints, or similar constructs in neoclouds). - Experience building or operating secure, isolated environments for enterprise customers (single‑tenant, BYOC, or on‑prem), ideally including BYOK/KMS integrations and compliance constraints. - Proficiency with infrastructure as code (Terraform) and strong software engineering skills in at least one of Python, Go, or Rust for automation and tooling. - Strong debugging and incident management skills across distributed systems (networking, compute, and platform layers), with a track record of driving root‑cause analysis and long‑term fixes. - 7+ years of industry experience building and operating production cloud infrastructure, including leading the design of complex systems or migrations. If you’re excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn’t match every qualification listed above. ## 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. 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