---
title: 'Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Computer) at Perplexity'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-software-engineer-computer-perplexity-san-francisco-xb76sg92dvny'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Computer) at Perplexity

- **Company:** [Perplexity](https://feeny.ai/companies/perplexity)
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $220k–$405k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-04-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Perplexity/4c0ac8bb-55bf-4fb0-b7d7-36d69f55e6c8/application

**Skills:** Python, Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Swift, Rust, Java, C++, LLMs, Agents, Retrieval systems, Personalization, Evaluation frameworks

> Design, build, and own product and platform systems for Perplexity's Computer product, an agentic AI tool. The role involves leading features end-to-end, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and building systems that integrate AI agents, context, and personalization to accelerate human productivity.

## Job description

By applying to this role, you will be considered for engineering roles across all teams at Perplexity.

WE ARE HIRING BUILDERS TO JOIN OUR HIGHLY LEVERAGED ENGINEERING TEAM FOR CREATING NEW PRODUCTS THAT INNOVATE AND ACCELERATE HUMAN PRODUCTIVITY

In 2026, we launched Computer, the defining product for the new era of agentic AI. We’ve scaled beyond the millions of people using Perplexity every day for research, shopping, investing and curiosity into a new paradigm of using AI to transform knowledge into action.

As an engineer at Perplexity, your role will be to build products and systems that define how AI empowers humans to think, decide and act. You’ll ship fast and work between product, infrastructure and frontier level advancements in technology.

## WHY PERPLEXITY IS DIFFERENT

- Craftsmanship. We build high quality, tasteful products targeting both the AI native and AI curious.
- Ownership. You identify the problem, design the solution and ship it.
- Entrepreneurship. We think like founders, act with urgency, and hustle to deliver for each other and our users.
- Scholarship. Work among highly talented peers, pursuing knowledge and truth, upleveling ourselves, our teams, and our products.
- Partnership. We amplify each others’ strengths, break down silos, and give selflessly to help our colleagues deliver excellence.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Design, build, and own product and platform systems for Computer
- Lead features, projects and products end-to-end, from problem definition to technical design, implementation, and launch.
- Hill climb on hard problems, continuously iterating to improve for ourselves and customers.
- Partner closely with engineers, product managers, designers, data scientists, and go-to-market teams.
- Build systems that take into account the nuances of AI, working with agents, context, evaluation, personalization and the ground truth.

## QUALIFICATIONS

- 4+ years of professional software engineering experience.
- Strong experience in at least one general-purpose programming language such as Python, Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Kotlin, Swift, Rust, Java, or C++.
- Experience building and operating production systems at a meaningful scale.
- Strong product judgment and the ability to translate user problems into simple, effective technical solutions.
- Genuine interest and adoption of AI products and willingness to learn quickly.

## NICE TO HAVE

- Experience with LLMs, agents, retrieval systems, personalization, or evaluation frameworks.
- Time spent at a fast-growing startup or on a high-ownership engineering team.
- Founded a company or initiative.

## OUR MISSION

Perplexity’s mission is to power curiosity. Curious people are the people who drive change in the world. Driving change is a continuous cycle of learning, building, and integrating.

Learn: curious people constantly learn new things by asking more. They question the status quo in their own expertise and they constantly learn outside of it. Research is essential to them and never ending.

Build: curious people make and create things, to show the world their new answers to problems no one else ever questioned. They take action on what they’ve learned. Makers need tools to create their products, their companies, their reality.

Integrate: they must interact with the world as it is to drive change and adoption. True leaders do not simply build something and hope. They must have armies of agents and workers who can constantly work in millions of small ways.

Repeat. For curious people this is a cycle that never ends.

## 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/)

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