staff software engineering Staff Engineer tech_leadership Phd's · Posted Mar 21, 2026
$220,000 – $405,000
USD per year

About this role

Perplexity is hiring a staff-level Staff Engineer in the software engineering function based in San Francisco, CA. The posting calls out experience with Python, TypeScript, Rust, AI Agents. Listed education preference: a Ph.D. or equivalent. Compensation is listed at $220,000–$405,000 per year.

Role
Staff Engineer
Function
software engineering
Level
staff
Track
Tech leadership
Employment
Full-time
Location
San Francisco, CA
Education
Ph.D. preferred
Department
AI
Posted
Mar 21, 2026
AI Summary
Conduct original AI security and privacy research at Perplexity's Secure Intelligence Institute. Develop threat models, identify vulnerabilities, build defenses and evaluation frameworks for AI-native products. Translate research into shipped security features while publishing at premier venues.

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Job description

from Perplexity careers

Perplexity is seeking energetic researchers and engineers to join our Secure Intelligence Institute (SII), Perplexity's flagship research center for advancing security, privacy, and trust in frontier intelligence. SII’s goals are to advance frontier AI security research, translate those advances into concrete improvements in Perplexity's systems, and share knowledge and resources that strengthen the broader AI ecosystem.

As a member of SII, you'll conduct original and impactful research on improving the security and privacy of frontier intelligence systems. Your goal will be to conduct research that is not only rigorous in theory, but practical enough to improve the systems people rely on every day. This work will be informed by the realities of operating general-purpose AI systems used by millions of people and thousands of enterprises, and you'll be expected to translate both your own research and advances from the broader community to practical improvements that protect and defend Perplexity's users.

Responsibilities

  • Develop threat models for emerging attack surfaces in AI-native products, including browser, search, and autonomous agents.

  • Identify and analyze security and privacy threats across AI systems, infrastructure, and user-facing products.

  • Develop novel defenses, mitigations, and detection mechanisms for security and privacy in AI-native products.

  • Build security evaluation frameworks, benchmarks, and datasets to measure the effectiveness of different defense mechanisms.

    This is an excerpt. Read the full job description on Perplexity careers →
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