Member of Technical Staff
Job description
About the role
The team builds and optimizes AI-powered search infrastructure, and the role focuses on performance, reliability, and scalability of the search stack.
Software engineers turn product ideas into working code. Engineers work in small teams, review each other's work, and ship in small batches. Most teams follow agile practices such as sprints and daily standups. Engineers also write tests, fix bugs, and improve performance. The field values clear communication as much as technical skill. Engineers spend part of every week on planning, code review, and debugging, not just writing new code. The ability to explain a technical decision in plain words separates strong engineers from the rest.
Key facts
What you'll do
Architectural decisions and implementation define ultra-low-latency search infrastructure in Rust, and the work targets latency reductions across the search stack.
Service profiling instruments production workloads, and measured response-time reductions at scale guide optimization priorities.
Distributed backend components are developed and maintained to power real-time search and retrieval for demanding users.
Collaboration with product and infrastructure teams designs systems that meet strict query-performance targets.
Production workloads are monitored, debugged, and tuned to preserve reliability during traffic peaks.
Code reviews and peer mentoring contribute to high-efficiency Rust development across the team.
Requirements
The posting states a bachelor's degree requirement. Deep expertise in Rust for backend and search systems is required for contributions to performance-critical code.
Experience profiling and tuning high-load, low-latency distributed services is necessary to meet scaling targets.
Strong understanding of systems design, Linux internals, and performance debugging is mandatory for effective optimization.
Background in cloud infrastructure, preferably AWS, and container orchestration is required for deployment and operations.
A track record of driving efficiency for search or data-intensive products is expected in production scenarios.
Ability to thrive in fast-paced environments and own critical product code is required for continuous delivery.
Passion for benchmarking, instrumentation, and continuous performance improvement supports ongoing reliability efforts.
Practical notes
The role is based in Belgrade and is full-time. Typical interview steps
Hiring for engineering roles usually starts with a recruiter screen, followed by one or two technical rounds. Candidates often solve a coding problem, discuss past projects, and answer system design questions. Some loops include a take-home task. Final rounds typically cover team fit and give candidates a chance to ask questions. Interviewers look for how you break down an unfamiliar problem, not just whether you reach the answer. Practicing a few problems aloud and reviewing your own past projects are the best preparation.
Good to know
Search engineers typically work with low-level systems, performance profiling, and distributed infrastructure. Rust is the primary language for backend services. Performance debugging, benchmarking, and instrumentation are common daily activities. Teams often collaborate closely with product and infrastructure peers.
Questions to ask
Useful questions for the interview: what a typical week looks like, how work is assigned, what tools the team uses, and how feedback works. Asking how the role has changed recently and what the team wishes it had known when joining is also reasonable. Questions about the manager's priorities are especially valued.
Career growth
Engineering careers usually progress from individual contributor to senior, staff, and principal levels. Some engineers move into management and lead teams of five to twenty people. Others stay on the technical track. Growth follows demonstrated impact, not tenure alone. A typical engineering ladder has clear levels with defined expectations for scope, quality, and mentorship. Moving up usually requires owning outcomes end to end rather than completing assigned tickets.
About the company
Perplexity is seeking an experienced Staff Full Stack Engineer to help revolutionize the way people search and interact online. In this role, you'll translate cutting-edge AI advances into products that are both useful and engaging. Our tech stack includes Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, React FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, vLLM, and AWS.