Senior Backend Software Engineer - API Platform
USD 180,000-300,000 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.
API @ 4
LLM @ 4
- 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 is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join the API team building and securing high-performance APIs that power user-facing apps, third-party integrations, and enterprise solutions. The team focuses on reliability, scalability, and clear documentation to make Perplexity's intelligence and features accessible to developers and products worldwide.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, expand, and maintain APIs and services.
- Scope and lead large technical projects, laying the groundwork for early-stage products to iteratively evolve and scale.
- Collaborate with engineers across the company to determine when to leverage existing infrastructure versus building bespoke solutions.
- Align technical decisions with company strategic initiatives while advocating for needs specific to new API initiatives.
- Generalize specific customer requests and build features applicable to the broader user base.
Requirements
- Understand best practices for building and working with natural language / LLM APIs.
- Experience managing infrastructure for API products.
- Strong intuition for designing systems that will last and scale.
- Experience ensuring a great user experience and ease of use for features and products you build.
- 4+ years of engineering experience.
Compensation & Benefits
- Cash compensation range for this role: $180,000 - $300,000 per year.
- Compensation tier summary shown: $200K – $250K (offers equity).
- Equity may be part of the total compensation package.
- Benefits include comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents, and a 401(k) plan.
Additional
- The role is listed as Hybrid (workplace type).