Job Description
Job Description
Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine founded in December 2022 and growing rapidly as one of the world's leading AI platforms. Perplexity has raised over $1B in venture investment from some of the world's most visionary and successful leaders, including Elad Gil, Daniel Gross, Jeff Bezos, Accel, IVP, NEA, NVIDIA, Samsung, and many more. Our objective is to build accurate, trustworthy AI that powers decision-making for people and assistive AI wherever decisions are being made. Throughout human history, change and innovation have always been driven by curious people. Today, curious people use Perplexity to answer more than 780 million queries every month–a number that's growing rapidly for one simple reason : everyone can be curious.
Perplexity is seeking an exceptional AI Research Tech Lead to drive our research strategy and lead the development of our in-house Online LLMs, the Sonar models. In this leadership role, you will set the macro research direction across different modalities, mentor a team of researchers, and take advantage of our rich query / answer dataset to continue scaling our Sonar model performance and deliver the SOTA Online LLM experience to our users.
ResponsibilitiesResearch Leadership & Strategy
- Define and execute the macro research direction across multiple modalities, including post-training LLMs for agent trajectories and future mid-training initiatives
- Lead strategic research planning and roadmap development to advance Sonar model capabilities
- Drive innovation in supervised and reinforcement learning techniques for query answering
- Collaborate with leadership to align research priorities with product and business objectives
Team Development & Mentorship
Coach and mentor a team of AI research scientists and engineers, fostering their technical and professional growthEstablish the long-term macro research direction across the team, including our direction across different modalitiesLead hiring and onboarding of new research talentCreate a collaborative environment that encourages knowledge sharing and innovationTechnical Excellence
Post-train SOTA LLMs on query answering using cutting-edge supervised and reinforcement learning techniquesOwn and optimize the full stack data, training, and evaluation pipelines required for LLM post-trainingDeliver Sonar models that provide SOTA query answering performanceDrive research into agent trajectories and multi-modal capabilitiesLead the technical roadmap for eventual mid-training investmentsCross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with engineering teams to integrate Sonar models into our productPartner with product teams to understand user needs and translate them into research prioritiesCollaborate with data teams to leverage our unique query / answer dataset effectivelyCommunicate research progress and findings to stakeholders across the organizationQualificationsRequired
Minimum of 5 years of experience working on relevant AI / ML projects with 3years in a technical leadership roleProven track record of leading and mentoring technical and research teamsA Computer Science graduate degree at a premier academic intitutionDeep expertise with large-scale LLMs and Deep Learning systemsStrong programming skills with versatility across multiple languages and frameworksDemonstrated ability to set technical vision and drive executionExperience with pre-training and post-training techniques (self-supervised learning along with SFT / DPO / GRPO / PPO)Self-starter with exceptional ownership mentality and ability to work in ambiguous environmentsPassion for solving challenging problems and pushing the boundaries of AI researchNice-to-have
PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, or related areasExperience with agent-based AI systems and multi-modal model developmentBackground in mid-training or pre-training of large language modelsPublications in top-tier AI / ML conferencesExperience in fast-paced startup environmentsTrack record of translating research into production systemsCompensation & Benefits
Our cash compensation range for this role is $370,000 - $460,000.
Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Equity : In addition to the base salary, equity may be part of the total compensation package.
Benefits : Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents. Includes a 401(k) plan.