Member of Technical Staff (Secure Intelligence Institute)
USD 220,000-405,000 per year
Used Tools & Technologies
Not specified
Required Skills & Competences
Tag name is followed by "@" symbol and proficiency level value.
About proficiency levels:
- 1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;
- 3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;
- 7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;
- 10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.
Security @ 3
Go @ 1
TypeScript @ 1
Python @ 1
Leadership @ 3
Communication @ 3
Rust @ 1
AI @ 3
- 1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;
- 3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;
- 7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;
- 10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.
Details
Perplexity's Secure Intelligence Institute (SII) is a research center focused on advancing security, privacy, and trust in frontier intelligence. As a member of SII you'll conduct original, practical research that improves the security and privacy of large-scale, general-purpose AI systems used by millions of people and enterprises, and translate research advances into concrete improvements for Perplexity's systems.
Responsibilities
- Develop threat models for emerging attack surfaces in AI-native products, including browser, search, and autonomous agents.
- Identify and analyze security and privacy threats across AI systems, infrastructure, and user-facing products.
- Develop novel defenses, mitigations, and detection mechanisms for security and privacy in AI-native products.
- Build security evaluation frameworks, benchmarks, and datasets to measure the effectiveness of different defense mechanisms.
- Partner with Perplexity’s Security Engineering team to translate state-of-the-art research into shipped security features and hardened system architectures.
- Collaborate with top-tier academic and industry researchers in SII's external research network.
- Publish findings at premier venues and contribute to the broader security research community.
Requirements
- PhD (or equivalent research experience) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, with a primary focus on security and/or privacy.
- Experience publishing at top security conferences (IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, ACM CCS, NDSS) demonstrating original, impactful research contributions.
- Deep expertise in one or more of: security of agentic systems, systems security, web and application security, program analysis, and software security.
- Proficiency in Python (bonus points for TypeScript, Go, and/or Rust).
- Ability to operate with high independence, take ownership, and work in a fast-paced environment where research directly informs product.
- Clear and concise communication, translating complex attack narratives into actionable insights for engineering and leadership.
Benefits
- U.S. full-time employees: comprehensive benefits including equity, health, dental, vision, retirement, fitness, commuter and dependent care accounts, and more.
- International full-time employees: comprehensive benefits program tailored to region of residence.
- Note: USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set based on the local market.
Compensation
- Posted U.S. salary range: $220K–$405K (offers equity).