---
title: 'Procurement Lead at Perplexity'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/procurement-lead-perplexity-san-francisco-n70x7eqeyyzp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-01'
---

# Procurement Lead at Perplexity

- **Company:** [Perplexity](https://feeny.ai/companies/perplexity)
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $190k–$240k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-31
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-01
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/perplexity/ba95ea8c-9aad-4152-925c-df08d6a90c0f

## Job description

We're hiring a Procurement Lead to build Perplexity's procurement function. You'll design how Perplexity buys, from the workflow and policies teams follow to the agreements we sign and the vendor relationships we manage after signature. You'll be a key partner to teams across the company, helping them choose the right vendors and structure strong agreements without becoming a bottleneck, and making sure every dollar we commit to third parties earns its keep.

This is a high-impact, hands-on role for someone who thrives in fast-paced environments and wants to build the function, not inherit one, with room for your scope to grow as the company does. We value someone who can set direction, dig into the details, and follow through. This position is based in San Francisco and requires in-person attendance 2-3 days per week.

## Key Responsibilities

- Lead our highest-impact vendor deals across software, cloud services, data, and professional services, from competitive alternatives through pricing, terms, and signature
- Structure committed-spend, usage-based, and multi-year agreements that scale with our usage and preserve our flexibility
- Own relationships with our most important vendors, including performance tracking, business reviews, and renewal negotiations
- Design an efficient procurement workflow, policies, and approval thresholds, and implement the tools and AI automation to run them
- Use AI workflows and agents to automate procurement, from intake and contract review to spend analysis and reporting
- Build visibility into vendor spend and contracts, and drive savings through consolidation, right-sizing, and renegotiation
- Partner with Legal, Security, and Accounting on contract terms, vendor risk reviews, and audit-ready controls

## What You'll Bring

- 5-7+ years of experience in procurement or strategic sourcing at a high-growth technology company, including building or scaling the function.
- A track record of personally negotiating multi-million dollar software, cloud, or data agreements, managing those vendors and renegotiating at renewal, and delivering measurable savings
- Experience building procurement processes, policies, and systems from scratch
- Ability to run multiple deals at once with incomplete information, and sound judgment about when to move fast and when to escalate
- Comfort using AI tools to accelerate your work and improve workflows
- A low-ego, roll-up-your-sleeves approach to projects large and small and to working across the organization
- Strong communication skills, the ability to influence senior leaders, and a reputation for being commercially tough and fair

## 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/)

## Other roles at Perplexity

- [Engineering Manager (Agent Engine)](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-agent-engine-perplexity-san-francisco-pyjccta1s68b) — San Francisco, CA
- [Member of Technical Staff (AI Policy and Strategic Initiatives)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-ai-policy-and-strategic-initiatives-perplexity-san-s1yq4fvk8jdc) — San Francisco, CA
- [Member of Technical Staff (AI Software Engineer, Agent Engine)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-ai-software-engineer-agent-engine-perplexity-san-hs3tx849abbt) — San Francisco, CA
- [Member of Technical Staff (Secure Intelligence Institute)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-secure-intelligence-institute-perplexity-san-francisco-q3g6c298fqjp) — San Francisco, CA
- [Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Training Infrastructure)](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-software-engineer-training-infrastructure-perplexity-b605dwa01nme) — San Francisco, CA
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