Forward-Deployed Engineer - API Platform

📋 Description

• • At Perplexity AI, the API Platform is the engine driving AI-native search, retrieval, and automation for a diverse range of the world's most innovative companies. Our Support team is at the forefront of ensuring developer and enterprise success, acting as the critical bridge that enables customers to build fast, reliable, and uniquely differentiated products leveraging the full power of our API capabilities. We go beyond simply resolving support tickets; we engage in deep partnerships with our customers, collaborating closely with our Product and Engineering teams to architect sophisticated solutions, meticulously debug complex integrations, and actively influence the product roadmap based on the real-world needs and challenges faced by developers.
• • About the Role: We are actively seeking a highly skilled and motivated Forward-Deployed Engineer to serve as a hands-on technical partner for our valued API customers. This is a profoundly technical and customer-facing position that demands a unique blend of expertise, functioning equally as a solution architect, a dedicated developer advocate, and a strategic technical program manager. You will engage with customers across their entire journey, from initial architectural design discussions with their developers and product teams to optimizing query performance and implementing cutting-edge new features. Your responsibilities will extend to contributing to the development of internal tooling, comprehensive documentation, and compelling demonstrations that significantly ease API adoption and amplify its impact for our clients.
• • Key Responsibilities:
• • Serve as the primary, dedicated technical partner for our most strategic API Platform customers. This involves providing expert guidance through every stage of their integration journey, including initial architecture design, seamless integration, and ongoing performance optimization.
• • Proactively troubleshoot and resolve complex API performance issues, grounding quality concerns, and integration challenges. This may require diving directly into codebases, analyzing logs, and performing in-depth diagnostics to identify root causes.
• • Develop and prototype example integrations, sophisticated search workflows, and engaging demos. These assets will serve to accelerate customer adoption, inspire new use cases, and showcase the full potential of the API Platform.
• • Act as a critical liaison between customers and our internal Engineering and Product teams. You will collaborate closely to resolve high-priority escalations, ensuring minimal downtime for our customers and maintaining the highest levels of reliability for their applications.
• • Systematically capture, analyze, and synthesize customer feedback. This crucial input will be used to drive improvements in API features, enhance our SDKs, and elevate the overall developer experience.
• • Maintain an exceptionally deep and up-to-date familiarity with the API Platform's latest capabilities, its competitive positioning within the market, and established best practices. You will leverage this comprehensive knowledge to provide insightful and strategic advice to our customers.
• • Champion the adoption and effective utilization of the API Platform by understanding customer business objectives and translating them into technical solutions.
• • Contribute to the creation of technical content, including blog posts, case studies, and best practice guides, to further empower the developer community.
• • Participate in industry events and developer conferences to represent Perplexity AI and engage with the broader AI and developer ecosystem.
• • Continuously learn and adapt to new technologies and trends in the AI and API space to better serve customer needs.
• • Build strong, trusted relationships with key technical stakeholders within customer organizations.
• • Guide customers in understanding and implementing advanced features and functionalities of the API Platform.
• • Assist customers in migrating existing systems or workflows to leverage the Perplexity API Platform.
• • Provide feedback to Product Management on feature gaps and opportunities based on customer interactions.
• • Develop and maintain a deep understanding of the competitive landscape and how Perplexity's API Platform differentiates itself.
• • Contribute to the development of internal playbooks and training materials for the broader Support and Solutions Engineering teams.
• • Advocate for customer needs internally, ensuring their voice is heard in product development discussions.
• • Help define and track key success metrics for customer integrations and overall API platform adoption.
• • Troubleshoot issues related to data ingestion, indexing, and retrieval pipelines.
• • Optimize API request and response structures for maximum efficiency and performance.
• • Ensure customers are aware of and utilizing the latest security best practices when integrating with the API Platform.
• • Facilitate knowledge sharing sessions with customers on advanced topics related to AI search and retrieval.
• • Proactively identify potential issues or risks in customer implementations and provide mitigation strategies.
• • Contribute to the continuous improvement of our support processes and tools.
• • Be a go-to expert for complex technical challenges related to the API Platform.
• • Empower customers to achieve their business goals through the effective use of AI-powered search and automation.
• • Foster a collaborative and supportive environment for both internal teams and external customers.
• • Drive innovation by exploring and demonstrating novel applications of the API Platform.
• • Ensure a seamless and positive experience for all API customers.
• • Be a key contributor to the growth and success of the Perplexity API Platform.
• • About Perplexity AI: Perplexity AI is at the forefront of the AI revolution, building a new generation of search and knowledge discovery tools. Our mission is to make information more accessible, understandable, and actionable for everyone. We are a team of passionate researchers, engineers, and product builders dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI.
• • Why Join Us: The API Platform is rapidly evolving into a foundational infrastructure layer for AI-powered search and automation. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping how our diverse customer base, ranging from agile startups to established Fortune 500 companies, brings their most ambitious and innovative ideas to life. You will be joining a dynamic, fast-paced, and high-impact team where your technical acumen, creative problem-solving abilities, and unique talent for bridging the gap between product capabilities and customer requirements will directly influence both the strategic roadmap of the API Platform and its overall market success. This is an unparalleled opportunity to make a significant impact in a rapidly growing field and contribute to the future of AI-powered information access.