Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI

Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Backend Platform)

San Francisco · Staff+

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 48 days ago
PythonGoBackend DevelopmentAWSKubernetesIncident ResponseLeadershipMentoring

About the role

  • By setting rigorous standards for code quality, uptime and performance, the Platform team ensures everyone at Perplexity can innovate at speed on top of a robust, well-architected foundation.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the design and implementation of our sandboxing platform to safely execute untrusted and user‑generated code while meeting strict performance and reliability requirements.
  • Own key backend services involved in authentication and encryption flows (including BYOK‑related pieces), partnering with Security and Infra on defense‑in‑depth.
  • Set the technical bar for backend platform design and operations, driving best practices in reliability, observability, and incident response for always‑on systems.
  • Partner with product and AI teams to define clear platform interfaces, SLAs, and integration patterns so new features can reliably build on shared backend capabilities.

Requirements

  • Hands-on experience with modern infrastructure (for example AWS, Kubernetes, and related cloud technologies).
  • Strong proficiency in at least one backend language such as Python, Go, or Rust, and the ability to work effectively in a multi-language environment.
  • Comfort working in security‑sensitive areas (auth, authorization, encryption) and making pragmatic trade-offs between safety, simplicity, and velocity.
  • Experience designing and building backend systems that run in production (typically 4+ years for mid-level, more for senior and staff).
  • Strong system design skills, with a track record of creating efficient, reliable, and scalable architectures.
  • Collaborative mindset and eagerness to solve challenging technical problems with other experienced engineers.
  • If you're excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't match every qualification listed above.

Company info

  • The Backend Platform team is the backbone of Perplexity's product reliability, scalability, and performance, enabling every product and AI team to build with confidence.

This listing is sourced directly from Perplexity AI's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.