Member of Technical Staff, (Software Engineer, Experience) at Perplexity (San Francisco, CA)
Perplexity· San Francisco, CA· $220k–$405k·
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
The charter of Perplexity’s Core Experience team is to create a cohesive, intuitive, and delightful user experience by integrating cutting-edge AI capabilities and research into a unified system. The Core Experience team works closely with product design teams to ship a world-class web app that’s used by millions of people every day. We imagine and build the interfaces through which people experience the promise of AI.
We are seeking a talented engineer with an uncompromising dedication to the craft of frontend web development. You’ll help us to define the future of human-agent collaboration: establishing intuitive mental-models, patterns, and state-representation. You’ll work closely with design to prototype, architect, and engineer novel interfaces for interacting with AI collaborators.
What you’ll do
- Build and ship polished, high-craft, intuitive web interfaces
- Constantly improve high-visibility surfaces like agent chat threads, artifact editing, and message composition
- Partner directly with design to turn visionary ideas into production implementations
- Solve complex problems across architecture, state-management, animation, and performance-optimization
- Collaborate with capabilities and research teams to synthesize the latest research into coherent production experiences
- Support other product teams by designing reusable libraries and SDKs to maintain a high quality-bar across all surfaces of the product
What we’re looking for
- Strong proficiency in modern web technologies: React, TypeScript, CSS, etc.
- Exceptional taste: relentless attention to detail, from aesthetics to performance to code-quality
- Comfortable owning projects end-to-end, working at high velocity in an ambiguous environment where the industry changes by the day
- Keen product sensibilities: being able to reason about what will work, what won’t, and articulate why
- Customer obsession: always thinking about how what you’re building will touch the person on the other side of the screen
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.