Forward Deployed Engineer, Perplexity AI

• This role is ideal for TPMs, solutions engineers, or software engineers who have moved into customer-facing work but still want to build, prototype, and problem-solve daily
• 5+ years in technical support engineering, software engineering, or solutions engineering, with direct application development experience
• Strong API integration skills—able to design and debug REST/JSON payloads, manage auth flows, and optimize latency
• Proven track record of diagnosing complex technical issues across distributed systems, APIs, and customer environments
• Excellent communicator who can work with both developer teams and non-technical stakeholders
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent hands-on experience

Desirable

• At Perplexity AI, the API Platform powers AI-native search, retrieval, and automation for some of the world’s most innovative companies
• Our Support team is the frontline for developer and enterprise success—ensuring that customers can build fast, reliable, and differentiated products on top of API’s capabilities
• We don’t just answer tickets—we partner deeply with customers, Product, and Engineering to architect solutions, debug complex integrations, and influence the roadmap based on real-world developer needs
• We’re looking for a Forward-Deployed Engineer to be a hands-on technical partner for our API customers
• This is a deeply technical, customer-facing role—equal parts solution architect, developer advocate, and technical program manager
• You’ll work end-to-end with developers, product teams, and executives at our customers’ organizations—from designing their API-powered architecture to optimizing query performance and implementing new features
• You’ll also contribute to internal tooling, docs, and demos that make API adoption easier and more impactful
• Serve as the dedicated technical partner for strategic API Platform customers, guiding them through architecture design, integration, and optimization
• Troubleshoot API performance, grounding quality, and integration challenges—diving directly into code and logs when needed
• Prototype example integrations, search workflows, and demos to accelerate adoption and inspire customer innovation
• Collaborate with Engineering and Product to resolve high-priority escalations, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum reliability
• Capture and synthesize customer feedback to improve API features, SDKs, and developer experience
• Maintain deep familiarity with the API Platform's latest capabilities, competitive positioning, and best practices, and use this knowledge to advise customers