Member of Technical Staff (New Grad)

Overview

• Breadth: New grads at Perplexity work across the stack, from Perplexity's agent harnesses to our AI inference and training systems. Many of our most beloved features and most important systems were shipped by individuals fresh out of school.
• Depth: New grads are entrusted (and expected) to dive deep into whatever problem domains you work on. Often, your work will require you to become a world expert in some problem space that few others in the world have encountered.
• Mentorship & Growth: We keep the size of our entering new grad cohorts at well below 10% of our technical team. Each individual enjoys a rich network of mentors to help them grow, and our new grads have a track record of becoming some of Perplexity's most senior and prolific team members.
• Recognition: We select for the best and we recognize them accordingly. We set our early career compensation to rise well above that of top tech companies and startups. Post-hire, we aggressively recognize and reward growth in role.
• Mission: Perplexity is AI for people who expect more. Our mission is to build frontier intelligence for the world's most discerning users, and each contribution you make will directly advance that mission.
• GPA of ≥3.92, averaged across all CS and Math classes; and
• Grade of A or A+ in your school's upper-level algorithms course.

Welcome! This is the general application portal for university students and recent graduates who wish to be considered for full-time Member of Technical Staff positions at Perplexity. Our elite new grad cohorts enjoy unparalleled mentorship, top-of-market compensation, and the chance to tackle some of the deepest, thorniest challenges in frontier intelligence https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/category/research.

NOTE: if you attend one of our focus schools listed below, please do not apply via this portal as it is infrequently monitored due to high volume. Apply instead via the school-specific application portal below to ensure your application receives priority attention.

FOCUS SCHOOLS (UNITED STATES)

Caltech https://pplx.ai/2026Caltech | Columbia https://pplx.ai/2026Columbia | Cornell https://pplx.ai/2026Cornell | CMU https://pplx.ai/2026CMU | Duke https://pplx.ai/2026Duke | Georgia Tech https://pplx.ai/2026GATech

Harvard https://pplx.ai/2026Harvard | MIT https://pplx.ai/2026MIT | Michigan https://pplx.ai/2026Michigan | Northwestern https://pplx.ai/2026Northwestern | NYU https://pplx.ai/2026NYU | Penn https://pplx.ai/2026Penn

Princeton https://pplx.ai/2026Princeton | Purdue https://pplx.ai/2026Purdue | Stanford https://pplx.ai/2026Stanford | UC Berkeley https://pplx.ai/2026Berkeley | UChicago https://pplx.ai/2026UChicago

UCLA https://pplx.ai/2026UCLA | UIUC https://pplx.ai/2026UIUC | UNC Chapel Hill https://pplx.ai/2026UNC | UT Austin https://pplx.ai/2026UTAustin

UWashington https://pplx.ai/2026UW | Yale https://pplx.ai/2026Yale

FOCUS SCHOOLS (CANADA)

McGill https://pplx.ai/2026McGill | UBC https://pplx.ai/2026UBC | UToronto https://pplx.ai/2026UToronto | Waterloo https://pplx.ai/2026Waterloo

EARLY CAREER TALENT @ PERPLEXITY

Perplexity believes that exceptionally talented individuals at any stage can thrive in our high-velocity, high-ownership culture. Our early career talent program revolves around:

ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

If you're not applying from a focus school listed above, we typically require you to possess the following qualifications:

Additional advanced coursework in areas such as systems, AI/ML, advanced math, and other rigorous subjects is highly welcome.

NON-QUALIFYING APPLICATIONS - EVIDENCE OF EXCEPTIONAL ABILITY

While you're welcome to submit your application if you don't meet these criteria, we will be looking for other evidence of exceptional ability. You are encouraged to briefly describe this evidence in response to the "Anything Else" question at the bottom of the application form.

NOTE ON FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

This portal accepts applicati