Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Backend Platform)

Perplexity AI2 weeks ago

Location

San Francisco

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 220,000 – 405,000

Level

Senior

Role

Backend Engineer

Posted

Jun 3, 2026

Full TimeSenior

The role

Summary

Join Perplexity AI's Backend Platform team as a Member of Technical Staff to design and build critical infrastructure systems that power the entire product ecosystem. This senior-level role focuses on building high-reliability sandboxing platforms, authentication and authorization systems, and backend services while establishing technical standards for system design, observability, and incident response across the organization.

What you'll do

Sandboxing Platform Architecture: Lead the design and full-stack implementation of Perplexity's code sandboxing platform, enabling safe execution of untrusted and user-generated code while maintaining strict performance SLAs and reliability standards that support the product's core functionality.

Authorization System Design: Define, architect, and extend RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) and authorization primitives to scale with new product capabilities, enterprise security requirements, and complex permission models for different user tiers.

Authentication & Encryption Infrastructure: Own critical backend services responsible for authentication flows, encryption mechanisms, and BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) implementations, collaborating closely with Security and Infrastructure teams to establish defense-in-depth security postures.

Technical Standards & Best Practices: Set and enforce rigorous technical standards across the Backend Platform team, establishing best practices in code quality, system reliability, observability, incident response, and operational excellence for always-on production systems.

Platform Interface Definition: Collaborate with product and AI teams to define clear, well-documented platform interfaces, service-level agreements (SLAs), and integration patterns, enabling product teams to reliably build features on shared backend infrastructure.

Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other backend engineers on the platform team, driving long-term architectural decisions that maintain a simple, secure, and evolvable foundation while fostering engineer growth.

System Reliability & Operations: Design systems with strong observability and monitoring capabilities, establish incident response procedures, and actively participate in on-call rotations to maintain high uptime and user experience standards across backend infrastructure.

Performance Optimization: Continuously monitor, analyze, and optimize backend system performance, identifying bottlenecks in authentication, authorization, and real-time data flows to ensure fast, responsive user experiences at scale.

What we look for

Technical

Production Backend SystemsDemonstrated experience designing, building, and maintaining backend systems running in production with proven reliability and performance at scale.

System Design ExpertiseTrack record of creating efficient, reliable, and scalable backend architectures that handle high throughput, low latency, and fault tolerance requirements.

Cloud Infrastructure ProficiencyHands-on experience with modern cloud platforms such as AWS, including services like EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, and VPC for building cloud-native systems.

Kubernetes & Container OrchestrationPractical knowledge of containerization and orchestration technologies for deploying and managing distributed backend services.

Multi-Language Backend DevelopmentStrong proficiency in at least one backend programming language (Python, Go, or Rust) with the versatility to work in multi-language environments.

Security-Sensitive System DesignComfort working in authentication, authorization, encryption, and other security-critical areas with ability to balance safety, simplicity, and development velocity.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related FieldFoundational education in computer science, software engineering, mathematics, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating core CS concepts.

Experience

4+ Years Backend DevelopmentMinimum 4 years of professional experience building and operating backend systems in production, with progressively complex system design responsibilities for mid-level roles.

Senior/Staff Level ExperienceFor senior or staff-level positions, additional years of experience (5-8+ years) demonstrating technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural influence.

Infrastructure & DevOps ExperienceHands-on background with infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, and operational excellence for maintaining highly available systems.

Distributed Systems DesignProven experience architecting and implementing distributed systems, understanding trade-offs between consistency, availability, and partition tolerance.

Skills

Required skills

System DesignExpert-level ability to design scalable, reliable, and efficient backend architectures for production systems handling high availability requirements and fault tolerance.

Backend DevelopmentStrong proficiency in at least one backend programming language such as Python, Go, or Rust with demonstrated production experience building distributed systems.

Cloud InfrastructureHands-on expertise with modern cloud platforms, particularly AWS and container orchestration technologies like Kubernetes for deploying and managing backend services at scale.

Authentication & AuthorizationDeep understanding of security-sensitive systems including identity management, RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), OAuth flows, and encryption mechanisms.

Distributed SystemsSolid grasp of distributed computing concepts including consensus algorithms, eventual consistency, load balancing, and service-to-service communication patterns.

Infrastructure & DevOpsExperience with infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, and operational practices for maintaining always-on production systems.

Nice to have

Sandboxing & SecurityExperience designing or implementing sandboxing solutions for safely executing untrusted code with strict performance and reliability constraints.

Incident ResponseTrack record of designing systems with strong observability, monitoring, and incident response capabilities for zero-downtime operations.

Mentorship & LeadershipDemonstrated ability to mentor junior engineers, establish technical standards, and drive architectural decisions across engineering teams.

Multi-Language ProficiencyComfort working across multiple backend programming languages and making pragmatic technology choices based on system requirements.

AI/ML SystemsExperience working with AI infrastructure or supporting machine learning workloads at scale, relevant to Perplexity's AI-powered answer engine.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 220,000 – 405,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Equity Participation

Competitive stock option packages for early employees at a well-funded AI startup, providing meaningful ownership and upside participation in Perplexity's growth trajectory.

Comprehensive Health Coverage

Full medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer coverage supporting employee and family wellness needs.

Professional Development

Budget and time allocation for continuous learning, conference attendance, and skill development to stay current with evolving backend technologies and best practices.

Collaborative Engineering Culture

Work alongside experienced engineers solving complex technical challenges with a focus on knowledge sharing, code review rigor, and engineering excellence.

Impact on AI Infrastructure

Direct opportunity to shape the foundational systems powering an advanced AI answer engine, influencing the technical direction of a rapidly scaling company.

Interview process

1
Initial Screening — Phone or video screen with a recruiter to discuss background, experience with backend systems, and alignment with the role's technical focus areas including system design and infrastructure.
2
Technical Deep Dive — Technical conversation with a Backend Platform team member covering system design fundamentals, experience with distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and your approach to building reliable production systems.
3
System Design Interview — Whiteboard or collaborative coding session where you'll design a complex backend system, discussing trade-offs, scalability considerations, and architectural decisions relevant to authentication, authorization, or infrastructure challenges.
4
Code Review & Implementation — Take-home or live coding exercise demonstrating proficiency in your backend language of choice (Python, Go, or Rust), focusing on code quality, system design thinking, and ability to handle edge cases in a production-like scenario.
5
Leadership & Collaboration Discussion — Conversation with senior engineers or team leads exploring your experience with technical leadership, mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, and how you approach setting technical standards and making architectural decisions.
6
Executive Round — Final discussion with engineering leadership covering long-term vision, career growth opportunities, and your interest in shaping the strategic technical direction of Perplexity's backend infrastructure.