Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure)
Perplexity is hiring a Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure) in San Francisco, United States. It pays $220k-$405k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Perplexity.
Level's read on this job
- Level rates this software engineer role Uses AI ●●○○: an ordinary role that requires AI tools.
- The listed pay starts 31% above the typical software engineer posting on Level.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include AWS, Kubernetes and Eks.
- Level classifies it as a senior role.
- Level lists 130 other open roles at Perplexity.
AI in this role
Own cloud infrastructure management, networking, and compute platforms to support high-throughput AI workloads and enterprise customers.
About the Role
The Cloud Infrastructure team owns the foundational cloud primitives and deployment models that power Perplexity's products, from multi-tenant public cloud to single-tenant and on-premises solutions for enterprise customers.
As Perplexity grows its Computer and Enterprise products, this team builds and operates the security, isolation, and compliance layers that customers depend on. We provide the deployment topologies, multi‑region infrastructure, and core services that enable Perplexity to run reliably and efficiently for both consumer traffic and large enterprises.
Key Responsibilities
Own the roadmap and technical strategy for agent-driven cloud infrastructure management.
Design and operate Perplexity’s cloud networking fabric, including VPC architectures, private connectivity, and peering with hyperscalers and neocloud providers to support low-latency, high-throughput AI workloads.
Architect and scale compute platforms (Kubernetes/EKS, autoscaling groups, and mixed CPU/GPU fleets) to efficiently serve online request traffic and background workloads across regions.
Build and maintain secure, isolated deployment topologies for multi-tenant, single-tenant, and customer‑owned cloud (BYOC) environments, including cross-account networking, identity, and policy guardrails.
Implement and evolve multi-region strategies for availability, failover, and data locality, including traffic routing, regional capacity planning, and disaster recovery playbooks.
Partner with security to deliver enterprise controls such as BYOK/KMS integrations, network isolation, and auditability required for regulated customers.
Develop automation, tooling, and runbooks that make day‑2 operations (provisioning, upgrades, incident response) predictable and repeatable for Perplexity products across all environments.
Qualifications
Deep experience designing and operating cloud infrastructure on AWS (VPC design, routing, security groups, load balancing, private connectivity).
Strong background with Kubernetes/EKS and container orchestration, including multi‑cluster, multi‑region, or multi‑account setups.
Hands-on experience with cloud networking and peering (VPC peering, Transit Gateway, private link/service endpoints, or similar constructs in neoclouds).
Experience building or operating secure, isolated environments for enterprise customers (single‑tenant, BYOC, or on‑prem), ideally including BYOK/KMS integrations and compliance constraints.
Proficiency with infrastructure as code (Terraform) and strong software engineering skills in at least one of Python, Go, or Rust for automation and tooling.
Strong debugging and incident management skills across distributed systems (networking, compute, and platform layers), with a track record of driving root‑cause analysis and long‑term fixes.
7+ years of industry experience building and operating production cloud infrastructure, including leading the design of complex systems or migrations.
If you’re excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn’t match every qualification listed above.
How we rate this
Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure) at Perplexity rates 55 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Uses AI (AI Level 2 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Uses AI. An ordinary role that requires AI tools.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $220k
- Typical software engineer job
- $168k
This posting starts 31% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where cloud infrastructure was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where networking was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where security was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used AWS in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Cloud Infrastructure, Networking, Security, Distributed Systems, and AWS. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Put the AI tool in a bullet point about what you did, not just in a skills list. This role treats it as a required part of the job.
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