Member of Technical Staff (AI)

Location: San Francisco or Washington D.C., United States

Salary: $200,000–$350,000 per year for U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set according to the local market. Equity is offered.

Company

Perplexity develops frontier AI products, including Comet and Computer.

What you will do

• Research high-stakes AI policy and regulatory issues using AI agents.
• Build automated platforms for harvesting, prioritizing, and patenting inventions with AI researchers and intellectual property attorneys.
• Support the Legal team and outside counsel on high-tech litigation matters in U.S. federal court.
• Engineer privacy and compliance systems for frontier AI products.
• Contribute to regulatory filings and responses requiring deep knowledge of AI technology, Perplexity systems, and policy.
• Implement first-party software for recruiting, labor compliance, and performance management, and participate as an AI technology and policy subject-matter expert in external meetings.

Requirements

• Strong technical skills at or above the software-engineering hiring bar.
• Fluency with frontier intelligence tools, including Perplexity Computer.
• Evidence of exceptional ability and 99th-percentile work ethic.
• High standards for craft and quality of work.
• Strong communication and writing skills, ideally demonstrated through samples of past written work.
• Curiosity about unfamiliar fields and willingness to redefine the role every 3–6 months.
• Ability to quickly develop mastery in new fields comparable to that of domain experts.
• Unimpeachable judgment, integrity, and discretion.
• Service-oriented approach to improving company systems and processes for stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Knowledge of law, technology policy, or economics alongside engineering expertise.
• Interest in developing policy, business, and operations expertise.
• Legal or economics background with maintained engineering skills.
• Plans to attend law school or a PhD program in the future; candidates making this plan must commit to at least two years.

Culture & Benefits

• Interdisciplinary work across policy, law, operations, engineering, and corporate affairs.
• Direct collaboration with senior leadership and access to mentors.
• U.S. full-time benefits include equity, health, dental, vision, retirement, fitness, commuter, and dependent-care accounts.
• International full-time employees receive benefits tailored to their region of residence.