Member Of Technical Staff (Backend Software Engineer, API Platform)
Perplexity is redefining how people search, reason, and interact with information. Our API team sits at the core of this vision, designing and operating the high-performance interfaces that expose Perplexity’s intelligence to developers, enterprises, and products worldwide.
What this role actually needs.
Perplexity is redefining how people search, reason, and interact with information. Our API team sits at the core of this vision, designing and operating the high-performance interfaces that expose Perplexity’s intelligence to developers, enterprises, and products worldwide. Responsibilities: - Design, build, and operate mission-critical APIs in Python, Go, or Rust optimized for low latency, high throughput, and strong consistency. - Lead major technical initiatives, from new platform components to multi-team system redesigns. - Improve system reliability and security by implementing rate limiting, authentication, observability (metrics, tracing, logging), and automated testing. - Collaborate across teams to determine when to extend existing systems versus build new, specialized services. - Translate customer needs into scalable platform capabilities and generalized API features. - Uphold engineering excellence through design reviews, code quality, and internal documentation. Requirements: - 5+ years of backend engineering experience with Python, Go, or Rust. - Strong understanding of high-traffic API design: versioning, schema evolution, idempotency, auth patterns, and performance tuning. - Hands-on experience running AWS services, plus fluency with Kubernetes, CI/CD, and modern DevOps practices. - Experience with LLM or natural-language APIs (latency tuning, streaming, model orchestration) is a strong plus. - Strong customer empathy and product sense, ensuring the APIs you build are ergonomic, well-documented, and easy to adopt. Company context: Perplexity is an answer engine — an AI-native search product used by millions of professionals daily.
Day-to-day expectations
Perplexity lists these responsibilities for the Member Of Technical Staff (Backend Software Engineer, API Platform) role.
- Design, build, and operate mission-critical APIs in Python, Go, or Rust optimized for low latency, high throughput, and strong consistency.
- Lead major technical initiatives, from new platform components to multi-team system redesigns.
- Improve system reliability and security by implementing rate limiting, authentication, observability (metrics, tracing, logging), and automated testing.
- Collaborate across teams to determine when to extend existing systems versus build new, specialized services.
- Translate customer needs into scalable platform capabilities and generalized API features.
- Uphold engineering excellence through design reviews, code quality, and internal documentation.
What a strong candidate brings
These requirements are extracted from the source listing and normalized for UpJobz readers.
- 5+ years of backend engineering experience with Python, Go, or Rust.
- Strong understanding of high-traffic API design: versioning, schema evolution, idempotency, auth patterns, and performance tuning.
- Hands-on experience running AWS services, plus fluency with Kubernetes, CI/CD, and modern DevOps practices.
- Experience with LLM or natural-language APIs (latency tuning, streaming, model orchestration) is a strong plus.
- Strong customer empathy and product sense, ensuring the APIs you build are ergonomic, well-documented, and easy to adopt.
Why this listing is more than a copied job post.
Member Of Technical Staff (Backend Software Engineer, API Platform) is framed against UpJobz source checks, country scope, compensation visibility, and work-authorization signals so candidates can make a faster go/no-go decision.
United States tech market
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Compensation read
$250K - $405K is visible before the click, so candidates can compare the role against local market expectations before applying.
Work authorization read
Current extracted signal: Open to TN, H-1B, and OPT candidates already in the United States. UpJobz treats this as a search signal, not legal advice, and links visa-sensitive roles back to the relevant visa hub where possible.
Location read
Hybrid roles in San Francisco should be compared against commute, local salary bands, and nearby employer demand.
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Source: jobs.ashbyhq.com · Source ID: 9ac5e638-85f6-4308-bcd5-7dfe0a30a79b · Confidence: 94/100 · Last checked: May 7, 2026
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