
Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Security) 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
About the Role
Perplexity is seeking a hands-on Software Engineer to build and evolve the software, automations, and systems that power our security operations. This role focuses on engineering security tools and internal AI-driven agents that improve detection and response, vulnerability management, and the overall security posture of our products and infrastructure.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain software and automation that improves our detection and response program, including alert enrichment, triage workflows, and investigation tooling.
- Implement and enhance internal AI agents and security bots that assist with monitoring, investigations, reporting, and other security operation tasks.
- Develop and operate systems and workflows that support the bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure program, including intake, triage, prioritization, and remediation tracking.
- Partner with product and engineering teams to threat model new features and systems, propose mitigations, and add guardrails into designs and implementations.
- Contribute to secure-by-default libraries, services, and patterns that make it easy for teams to build secure features.
- Integrate security signals from cloud, endpoints, SaaS, and applications into cohesive pipelines and data models that support detection and analysis.
- Build automation to reduce manual work in incident response, containment, and remediation.
- Collaborate with security engineers and other software engineers to review designs and code, and to continuously improve our security tooling and platforms.
Qualifications
- 4+ years of experience as a software engineer with significant time spent building security-related tools, platforms, or automations, or in a security engineering role with strong software development responsibilities.
- Proficiency in at least one major programming language (such as Python, Go, or TypeScript) and experience building production services, CLIs, or internal tools.
- Experience integrating with security-relevant systems such as logging pipelines, SIEMs, EDR, cloud APIs, or identity platforms.
- Practical experience with threat modeling, secure design, or application security reviews for services or features.
- Experience operating or contributing to bug bounty or vulnerability management programs is a plus.
- Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred) and modern SaaS environments.
- Ability to work closely with cross-functional teams, own projects end-to-end, and ship pragmatic, high-impact improvements.
- Bonus: Experience designing or improving AI-powered agents or automation used for security operations.
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.