Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Design System)
Perplexity·New York, New York, United States | Seattle, Washington, United States | San Francisco, California, United States$220K - $405K·posted 4d ago · last seen 51m agoTrack this application
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Get Started FreeAbout interviewing at Perplexity
One of the few AI startups with a fully published interview guide (perplexity.ai/hub/careers/interview-guide): online application (response within two weeks) → recruiter phone screen → a technical screen that for engineers is 'usually a standard technical programming interview' → a quickly-scheduled onsite of 4–5 interviews including a hiring-manager deep dive on past work and experience anecdotes → a final interview with a Perplexity founder or leader → decision within a week of the onsite. Coding leans Python and mixes LeetCode medium–hard with practical search-flavored tasks (ranking/filtering, concurrency, data handling); system design is AI-native (RAG pipelines, retrieval at scale, LLM serving cost/latency). Applicants are judged 'solely on merit and potential impact' and must show 'frontier knowledge and excellence in at least one area'; roles are broad by default with team matching happening during the onsite, every role — managers included — is hands-on, and building AI products isn't expected but fluency in using AI tools is required. In-person 4 days/week near an office; remote is case-by-case.
Read the full Perplexity interview process →Description
Perplexity is looking for a frontend engineer to build the design system behind every Perplexity product. It is the component library and design language shared across web, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows – the primitives, tokens, and interaction patterns that every product team builds on top of.
Its users are internal, spanning product teams and a broad range of contributors across the company. The components you build become the foundation all of them rely on. You will develop component APIs that hold up across dozens of consuming surfaces and are easy for other teams to adopt correctly, contribute to the token pipeline that keeps five platforms visually consistent, and maintain a high bar for interaction quality and accessibility.
Tech Stack: React · TypeScript · CSS · Design Tokens
What you'll do
Design and build core primitives – overlays, inputs, navigation, feedback – with APIs that stay coherent as consumers multiply
Work across the design-token pipeline – authoring, generation, and per-platform publishing across web, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows
Partner directly with design on the design language itself, translating Figma systems into typed, testable, documented components
Migrate product surfaces off bespoke implementations onto shared primitives without breaking them
Build accessible components by default – keyboard, focus, contrast, screen readers – backed by automated coverage
Support consuming teams through docs, visual regression coverage, and on-call rotation
What we're looking for
4+ years building production frontend; experience with a design system, component library, or shared UI platform is a plus
Interest in building reusable components
Strong React and TypeScript, and CSS
Working accessibility knowledge (WCAG, ARIA patterns, assistive tech)
Comfort collaborating closely with designers on the visual and interaction language
Salary Range: $220K - $405K
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