Member of Technical Staff (AI Policy and Strategic Initiatives)

About the role

Perplexity is seeking an intrepid Member of Technical Staff to take on one of the AI industry's most unique engineering roles. You'll work directly with Perplexity's senior leadership to spearhead a broad portfolio of strategic technology initiatives across policy, law, operations, and corporate affairs. As a Member of Technical Staff in the Policy & Strategic Initiatives group, you'll occupy a front-row seat to the foremost policy issues animating the AI ecosystem. You'll also get a panoptic view of how leading AI companies operate, make decisions, and engage with broader society. Those seeking to marry technical expertise and broader interests in law, policy, and corporate affairs will find a home in this role. You'll make contributions to Perplexity that defy traditional boundaries, with a bench of mentors who will push you to learn and grow day after day.

Responsibilities

• Harness AI agents to research high-stakes policy and regulatory issues pertaining to Perplexity.
• Build automated platforms for harvesting, prioritizing, and patenting Perplexity's inventions, in collaboration with AI researchers and intellectual property attorneys.
• Work hands-on with the Legal team and outside counsel in support of high-tech litigation matters in U.S. federal court.
• Engineer privacy and compliance systems that efficiently scale with a growing portfolio of frontier AI products (such as Comet and Computer).
• Contribute to regulatory filings and responses that require impeccable command of AI technology, Perplexity's own systems, and the broader policy landscape.
• Embed with the People team to implement first-party software solutions for recruiting, labor compliance, and performance management.
• Participate in meetings with Capitol Hill, executive branch officials, international partners, and civil society as a subject-matter expert on both AI technology and policy.

The above is a small sampling of activities; no two days will be the same, and your work will take you to all corners of the company. You'll interact each day with Perplexity's senior leaders, who will come to rely on you as a creative problem solver for simple and complex matters alike.

Qualifications

No single profile defines the ideal candidate for this role. Examples of people who might thrive here include:

• Exceptionally talented early-career engineers (new grads welcome) who are well-read in law, tech policy, or economics, and wish to grow in both technical and non-technical disciplines.
• Candidates who plan to attend law school or PhD programs in the future; a minimum 2-year commitment is required (i.e., applying for the entering class of 2028 or later).
• Experienced engineers at top tech companies who wish to develop policy, business, and operations chops.
• Lawyers or economists (new JD or PhD grads welcome) who've kept their engineering skills sharp and are excited to reimagine their fields in the age of AI.

This is a non-exhaustive list; other profiles may also be great fits. Regardless of background, the following are required:

• Evidence of exceptional ability and 99th-percentile work ethic.
• Strong technical skills at or above Perplexity's hiring bar for software engineers.
• Fluency with frontier intelligence tools (such as Perplexity Computer).
• High intrinsically-enforced standards for the craft and quality of your work.
• Strong communication and writing skills, ideally demonstrated via samples of past written work product.
• Curiosity and excitement about new and unfamiliar fields; eagerness to redefine your job every 3–6 months.
• Ability to quickly dive deep in any given field and develop mastery rivaling that of domain experts.
• Unimpeachable judgment, integrity, and discretion to be entrusted with the company's most important matters.
• A service-oriented attitude that continually questions how company systems and processes might better serve stakeholders.

Pay

Compensation Range: $200K – $350K