Engineering Manager (Multimodal)
perplexity
OnSite
San Francisco
Engineering
Job Score
80 pts
On-site model (+70)
Engineering (+10)
In 2026, we launched Computer, the defining product for the new era of agentic AI. We've scaled beyond the millions of people using Perplexity every day for research, shopping, investing and curiosity into a new paradigm of using AI to transform knowledge into action.
The Multimodal team builds the experiences and infrastructure that move AI interaction beyond touch and text: realtime voice, vision, and the platform systems behind them. We own the full path from a user speaking into a device to an answer coming back: the realtime session infrastructure that connects clients to frontier audio models, the backend orchestration that routes, records, and supervises live sessions, and the SDK that powers voice and multimodal experiences across Perplexity's apps.
As Engineering Manager for Multimodal, you will lead the team building realtime voice and multimodal experiences across Perplexity. You'll hire and develop engineers, set technical direction, and drive new products at the intersection of voice, vision, and agents.
Key Responsibilities
Lead the team building realtime voice and multimodal experiences across Perplexity, taking new products from first prototype to production launch.
Own the team's roadmap, deciding which voice and vision experiences to build next and what infrastructure they need to succeed.
Hire and develop engineers, giving them ownership of meaningful technical problems and the feedback to grow.
Shape the architecture behind the full voice experience, from a user speaking into a device to models, tools, and agents responding.
Lead the systems that turn live conversations into action, connecting voice models to tools, agents, and long-running tasks.
Guide the team through the latency, reliability, and scaling challenges of live voice, including session recovery and performance under load.
Partner with SDK, client, infrastructure, and model teams to turn new audio and vision capabilities into experiences people can use across our apps.
Use user feedback and production performance to improve the experience after launch and decide where the team should invest next.
Qualifications
Experience managing engineering teams, including hiring, coaching, and performance management.
A strong software engineering background in backend or distributed systems.
Experience designing and operating production services in rapidly scaling environments on AWS or similar cloud infrastructure.
A track record of leading teams to ship complex projects in a fast-moving environment.
Strong product judgment and the ability to translate user problems into clear technical priorities.
Clear communication and the ability to work effectively across teams.
Experience with Rust, Python, Go, or similar languages. We work primarily in Rust and Python.
Genuine interest and adoption of AI products and willingness to learn quickly.
Nice to have
Experience with realtime media systems: voice, audio streaming, WebRTC, or low-latency transport.
Experience integrating LLMs, speech models, or computer vision into production systems.
Experience with agent frameworks, tool-calling architectures, or sandboxed execution environments.
Experience leading projects across backend services, client SDKs, and user-facing applications.
Time spent leading a team at a fast-growing startup or in a high-ownership environment.
What did you think of this job?
Loading comments...
About Engineering
Software Engineering goes beyond traditional development, focusing on scalability, performance, and system architecture. Software engineers are responsible for designing infrastructures that support millions of simultaneous users.
Skills include microservices architecture, DevOps, cloud computing, application security, and performance optimization. Knowledge of containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD is increasingly required.
Senior software engineers are rare and highly compensated professionals, with opportunities at major global tech companies.
Discover Other Areas
Understand the scope of work, key skills, and tools used in different career areas.
About Account Manager
The Account Manager is the professional responsible for managing and expanding the relationship with clients after the sale. They act as a strategic partner, ensuring satisfaction, retention, and account growth, connecting client needs with company solutions.
Key skills include relationship management, negotiation, upsell and cross-sell, contract renewal, account planning, business reviews, metrics analysis (NPS, churn, LTV), and CRM knowledge (Salesforce, HubSpot). Communication, empathy, and business vision are fundamental differentiators.
Account Managers in technology and SaaS companies are highly valued, especially those who can increase recurring revenue (MRR/ARR) through account expansion and churn prevention. The field offers opportunities from account executive to director of accounts, with a focus on strategic relationship, revenue growth, and customer success.
About Advertising
The Advertising area is aimed at the planning, creation, and delivery of communication campaigns to promote brands, products, ideas, or services. Professionals in the sector work in advertising agencies or in-house marketing departments in creative fields (art direction, copywriting), strategic planning, account management, and media buying.
About Cloud Solutions
The Cloud Solutions area is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing cloud infrastructure and services (AWS, Azure, GCP) for companies. Cloud professionals architect scalable, secure, and cost-optimized solutions, from data center migrations to serverless and multi-cloud architectures.
Key skills include IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation), containers (Docker, Kubernetes), serverless (Lambda, Cloud Functions), managed databases (RDS, DynamoDB, BigQuery), cloud networking (VPC, CDN, load balancer), and security (IAM, WAF, KMS). Knowledge of FinOps, cloud governance, and AWS/Azure/GCP certifications is a differentiator.
Cloud Solutions professionals in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master multi-cloud architectures, FinOps, and can optimize costs while maintaining performance and security. The field offers opportunities from cloud engineer to cloud solutions architect, head of cloud, and chief cloud architect.
About Software Development
Software Development is one of the most dynamic and constantly evolving fields in the job market. Professionals in this area are responsible for creating, maintaining, and optimizing web, mobile, and desktop applications that impact millions of users daily.
Key languages and frameworks include JavaScript (React, Node.js, Vue.js), Python (Django, Flask), Java (Spring), PHP (Laravel), and TypeScript. Demand for full-stack developers continues to grow, especially in tech companies and startups.
Salaries range from entry-level to senior positions, with growing opportunities for remote work and international freelancing.
About Automation Analyst
The Automation Analyst is the professional responsible for identifying process optimization opportunities and developing automated workflows (RPA, scripts, or integrations). They map manual and repetitive tasks across various company areas and build automation solutions using low-code/no-code platforms (such as Zapier, Make, Power Automate, n8n) or RPA tools (such as UiPath), driving operational efficiency and error reduction.
Comments 0