Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Data Flywheel)

## About the Role As a Software Engineer at Perplexity, you will play a vital role in building the data flywheel that serves teams across the company. Your primary focus will be on designing and implementing systems and pipelines that enable Search, Product, and other teams to independently access and utilize reliable evaluation verdicts without bottlenecks. You will be working closely with a small, high-impact team where your work directly shapes how Perplexity measures and improves Answer Quality.

The Answer Quality team is responsible for ensuring that Perplexity's prompts, tools, search, and specialized datasets, combined with both frontier and in-house models, create the best possible experience for users. As the product evolves, evaluations must remain fast, accurate, and actionable. Your expertise in software engineering, data modeling, and system design will be crucial in driving this effort forward.

You will be part of a team that values autonomy, innovation, and collaboration. Perplexity operates in a rapidly changing environment, and the ability to adapt quickly and make data-driven decisions is essential. If you are a motivated and talented software engineer looking to make a real impact, this role could be an exciting challenge for you.

## What You Will Do - Design and implement systems and pipelines to enable independent access to reliable evaluation verdicts - Take ownership of the 'evals-to-product' loop, determining the best way to turn raw signals into durable datasets - Build a robust simulator pipeline capable of replaying user interactions with the product - Maintain data trust by implementing monitoring, lineage, and quality checks - Operate in a small, high-impact team where your work directly shapes Answer Quality - Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and prioritize project requirements - Develop and maintain large-scale storage solutions using AWS and lakehouse ecosystems - Ensure data systems are scalable, secure, and meet the needs of the business - Troubleshoot issues and optimize system performance as needed - Participate in code reviews and contribute to the improvement of the engineering team's skills and knowledge

## What We Are Looking For - 3+ years of software engineering experience shipping production systems - Strong proficiency in Python and SQL with the ability to write production-grade, maintainable code - Experience with big data systems including distributed compute and large-scale storage - Solid fundamentals in data modeling, system design, and debugging distributed systems - Experience with AWS and lakehouse ecosystems like Databricks or Spark - Comfortable with agentic coding workflows and using AI-assisted development tools - Ability to work autonomously and make decisions with minimal supervision - Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail - Strong communication and collaboration skills

## Nice to Have - Data engineering background including pipelines, orchestration, and warehousing patterns - Familiarity with LLM/VLM interfaces, tokenization, structured formats, and multimodal payloads - Experience with evaluation platforms, experimentation systems, or machine learning infrastructure - Prior work supporting customer-facing products at scale - Knowledge of DevOps practices and experience with containerization using Docker

## Benefits and Perks - Competitive salary and benefits package - Opportunity to work with a cutting-edge technology stack - Collaborative and dynamic work environment - Professional development opportunities and support for ongoing education - Flexible working hours and remote work options - Access to the latest tools and technologies - Recognition and reward for outstanding performance - Comprehensive health insurance and wellness programs - Generous PTO and parental leave policies

- Showcase your expertise in Python, SQL, and big data systems by highlighting relevant projects or experiences in your portfolio.

• Be prepared to explain complex technical concepts in simple terms, demonstrating your ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical teams.
• Highlight your experience with AWS and lakehouse ecosystems, and be ready to discuss your approach to designing and implementing scalable and secure data systems.
• Emphasize your problem-solving skills and attention to detail, as these are critical in ensuring data quality and system reliability.
• Discuss your experience with collaborative development tools and version control systems, such as Git, and how you handle code reviews and feedback.
• Be prepared to walk through your thought process when approaching a complex technical problem, and how you would debug and optimize system performance.
• Show enthusiasm for Perplexity's mission and products, and be ready to discuss how your skills and experience align with the company's goals and values.