Perplexity AI

Member of Technical Staff (Engineering Lead, Developer Experience & Relations)

Perplexity AIYesterday
Location

San Francisco

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 220,000 – 405,000

Level

Senior

Role

Engineering Manager

Posted

Jun 16, 2026

Full TimeSenior

The role

Summary

Perplexity AI seeks an experienced Engineering Lead for Developer Experience & Relations to oversee the complete developer journey with the Perplexity API Platform. This technical leadership role combines deep API expertise, community building, and developer advocacy to drive adoption among builders ranging from startups to enterprises. The ideal candidate brings substantial experience in developer-facing products, mastery of the AI/ML technical stack, and exceptional communication skills to establish Perplexity as the platform of choice for building performant, efficient, and accurate AI systems.

What you'll do

Developer Experience Portfolio Leadership: Oversee the complete developer experience strategy and execution across Perplexity's API Platform, including documentation quality, SDK design, CLI tools, Model Context Protocol (MCP) implementation, and Agent Skills deployment. Ensure consistent excellence in developer-facing interfaces that reflect meticulous attention to craft and API ergonomics.
API and Documentation Strategy: Craft and curate developer-facing presence across all technical touchpoints including comprehensive API documentation, well-designed software development kits (SDKs), command-line interfaces (CLIs), and integration pathways. Establish documentation standards that enable developers across all experience levels to successfully integrate Perplexity's technology into their applications.
Developer Community Building and Advocacy: Build and nurture a thriving developer community that evangelizes Perplexity's API offerings and demonstrates innovative use cases. Serve as the primary voice of developers internally, maintaining deep understanding of customer priorities, success patterns, and friction points in the AI/ML ecosystem.
Public Engagement and Developer Relations: Lead developer-facing public engagement initiatives across industry events, social media platforms, technical forums, GitHub communities, and other high-signal channels. Represent Perplexity at conferences, webinars, and hackathons while building credibility within the broader AI and developer communities.
Ecosystem and Resources Development: Foster a comprehensive ecosystem of community resources, code examples, sample projects, and best practices documentation that demonstrate effective use patterns for each API offering. Create reference implementations that serve as templates for developers building production-grade AI applications.
Developer Metrics and Program Design: Define and track developer health metrics including adoption rates, satisfaction scores, time-to-first-success, and engagement indicators. Design and execute workshops, hackathons, and participatory programs that convert developer interest into successful platform adoption and customer wins.
Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with technical staff members, go-to-market teams, customer support, product management, and other cross-functional stakeholders to ensure developers succeed across diverse industries and deployment scales. Advocate for developer needs in product prioritization discussions and technical roadmap planning.

What we look for

Technical

API Product Development ExperienceDemonstrated expertise prototyping and developing API-based products end-to-end, with well-calibrated understanding of API ergonomics, design patterns, and developer usability best practices.
AI/ML Technical Stack ProficiencySound understanding of modern AI technical stacks, including knowledge of major players and technologies at each architectural layer (LLMs, embedding models, vector databases, orchestration frameworks, inference optimization), and ability to identify differentiation opportunities.
Software Development and ArchitectureStrong foundation in software architecture, API design principles, and multi-language SDK development. Hands-on experience building or contributing to production systems that demonstrates technical depth and decision-making capabilities.
Developer Tools and Ecosystem KnowledgeComprehensive understanding of modern developer tools, package managers, version control systems, CI/CD pipelines, cloud platforms, and the broader development ecosystem. Familiarity with SDKs, CLIs, and integration frameworks used by contemporary software development teams.

Education

Computer Science or Related FieldBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent practical software engineering experience demonstrating mastery of computer science fundamentals and software development practices.

Experience

Developer-Facing Product LeadershipSubstantial experience building or managing developer-facing products in a technical capacity, with proven track record of driving adoption, user satisfaction, and community engagement. This includes platforms, APIs, tools, frameworks, or SDKs used by engineering teams.
Developer Relations or Advocacy ExperienceBackground in technical leadership roles that involved direct developer engagement, such as developer relations engineering, developer advocacy, technical community management, or technical product management. Strong empathy for developers across experience levels and diverse technology stacks.
Technical Communication and Content CreationDemonstrated excellence in developer-facing communication channels including technical blog articles, API documentation, conference talks, social media engagement, and open-source community interaction. Portfolio of high-quality technical writing and public speaking engagements.
Community Building and GrowthTrack record of scaling developer communities, launching successful developer programs, organizing technical events or hackathons, and building engaged communities around technical platforms or tools.

Skills

Required skills

API Design and DocumentationExpert-level understanding of RESTful API design principles, API ergonomics, developer experience optimization, and comprehensive technical documentation creation. Ability to evaluate API design choices and provide constructive feedback on developer usability.
Technical LeadershipProven ability to lead technical initiatives, influence cross-functional teams, and drive engineering priorities. Strong decision-making skills in technical architecture and product direction, with ability to balance technical elegance with pragmatic delivery.
Developer CommunicationExceptional written and verbal communication skills tailored for technical audiences. Expertise in creating developer-focused content including technical articles, tutorials, documentation, and conference presentations. Ability to simplify complex AI/ML concepts for diverse developer audiences.
Community Building and EngagementDemonstrated ability to build and nurture engaged communities around technical products. Skills in public speaking, event organization, online community management, and developer relationship building. Experience scaling developer programs and increasing adoption through community initiatives.
Product Thinking and StrategyStrategic mindset with ability to understand developer needs, identify market opportunities, and define product direction. Experience with metrics-driven decision making, user research, feedback analysis, and continuous improvement of developer-facing products.
AI/ML FundamentalsSolid understanding of AI and machine learning concepts, including large language models (LLMs), embeddings, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt engineering, and agentic AI systems. Familiarity with evaluation frameworks and quality metrics for AI applications.

Nice to have

Multi-Language SDK DevelopmentHands-on experience designing and implementing software development kits (SDKs) across multiple programming languages (Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, Java, etc.), with understanding of language-specific idioms and best practices.
Open Source Community LeadershipExperience contributing to or maintaining open-source projects, managing contributor communities, and building sustainable open-source ecosystems. Familiarity with open-source governance models and community best practices.
AI Platform ExperiencePrior experience working with AI platforms, LLM APIs, vector databases, or AI application frameworks. Understanding of challenges in deploying production AI systems and optimizing for performance, cost, and accuracy.
Product Analytics and MetricsExperience defining and tracking product metrics, user engagement indicators, and adoption metrics. Proficiency with analytics tools and ability to derive actionable insights from usage data to inform product decisions.
DevOps and Infrastructure KnowledgePractical understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), and infrastructure concepts. Experience debugging production issues and understanding operational constraints of distributed systems.
Event and Workshop OrganizationTrack record of planning and executing successful developer events, hackathons, webinars, or workshops. Experience designing participatory programs that drive engagement and validate new features with developer communities.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 220,000 – 405,000 (annual)

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Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI

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Perplexity AI is an AI-powered answer engine that delivers accurate and up-to-date information by leveraging advanced language models and web search.

San Francisco, CA, USAFounded 2021perplexity.ai

Tech Stack

Languages
PythonTypeScript/JavaScriptGoSQL
Frameworks
LangChainLlamaIndexFastAPIReact/Vue.js
Databases
Vector Databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Milvus)PostgreSQLRedisMongoDB
Tools
Git and GitHubOpenAPI/SwaggerPostmanDocker and Container OrchestrationAnalytics Platforms (Mixpanel, Amplitude)Documentation Platforms (GitBook, Mintlify, Stripe Docs)
Other
Agentic AI SystemsLarge Language Models (LLMs)Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)AI Evaluation MetricsCloud Platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)
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