Perplexity is looking for a highly skilled Expert Systems Engineer to join our Search Core team. For the indexing and data processing stream. This role is critical to building next-generation search products and technologies. You will help drive key decisions around the architecture, design, and implementation of foundational components in our technical stack.
Responsibilities
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Design and build core search engine components, especially indexing pipelines, data storage formats that operate at the scale of billions of pages
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Develop streaming and batch data processing with YT systems for search index construction in a high-load environment
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Push the limits of hardware performance through low-level optimizations and systems-level tuning
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Tackle challenges in multithreading, concurrency, and system-level optimization
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Design and build core search engine components, including indexing pipelines, retrieval algorithms, and ranking systems that operate at the scale of billions of pages
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Develop streaming and batch data processing systems for search index construction in a high-load environment
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Push the limits of hardware performance through low-level optimizations and systems-level tuning
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Tackle challenges in multithreading, concurrency, and system-level optimization
Qualifications
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3+ years of hands-on experience in systems programming (Rust, C++, C, or similar)
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Ownership of full project lifecycle — you don't just write a fast inner loop, you care about how the system is built, deployed, operated, and scaled in production
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Knowledge of Python or other scripting languages
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Knowledge of Data processing systems (YT/Kafka/Hadoop)
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Passion for writing clean, efficient, and scalable systems-level code
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Strong knowledge of algorithms and data structures, and the ability to apply them effectively
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Deep understanding of multithreading, including various approaches, challenges, and trade-offs
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Experience building high-load, distributed, and hardware-adjacent services
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Solid understanding of Linux internals (syscalls, networking stack, memory model, kernel tuning)
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Familiarity with low-level optimization techniques (memory management, cache efficiency, SIMD, profiling)
Preferred Qualifications
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Experience developing core components of search engines, databases, or information retrieval systems
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Understanding of search fundamentals: indexing, query parsing, ranking, and relevance
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Experience with trading systems or other latency-sensitive real-time systems
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Familiarity with cloud services, Kubernetes, and AWS infrastructure