Perplexity · 12 hours ago
Research Engineering Manager - Model Training
San Francisco
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
$300K/yr - $470K/yr
10+ years expPerplexity is seeking a Research Engineering Manager to lead a team of AI researchers and engineers responsible for developing advanced models for their products. The role involves hands-on technical leadership, driving research and engineering efforts, and managing day-to-day execution for model training to enhance AI performance.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)ChatbotMachine LearningNatural Language ProcessingSearch Engine
Responsibilities
Lead a team of researchers and engineers focused on training SotA models for Perplexity-relevant use cases, leveraging the latest supervised and reinforcement learning techniques
Drive research and engineering efforts to develop production models through advanced model training and alignment techniques, including RL, SFT, and other approaches
Become deeply familiar with the team’s technical stack, leading from the front through hands-on technical contributions
Own the data, training, and eval pipelines required to train and continuously improve LLM models
Design and iterate on model training and finetuning algorithms (e.g., preference‑based methods, reinforcement learning from human or AI feedback) through an approach that balances scientific rigor and iteration velocity
Design evaluations and improve the production model training pipeline to reliably deliver models that lie on the Pareto frontier of speed and quality
Work closely with engineering teams to integrate in-house models into our product and rapidly iterate based on real‑world usage
Manage day‑to‑day execution, project planning, and prioritization for the model training team to hit ambitious quality and performance goals
Qualification
Required
Proven experience with large-scale LLMs and Deep Learning systems
Strong Python and PyTorch skills; versatility across languages and frameworks is a plus
Experience leading or managing research or engineering teams working on large-scale AI model development, including driving complex projects from idea to production
Self-starter with a willingness to take ownership of tasks and navigate ambiguity in a fast-moving environment
Passion for tackling challenging problems in AI model quality, speed, safety, and reliability
10+ years of technical experience, with at least 2 of those years as a manager and at least 4 of those years working on large-scale AI model development
Preferred
PhD in Machine Learning or related areas
Experience training very large Transformer-based models with techniques such as SFT, DPO, GRPO, RLHF-style methods, or related preference-based optimization approaches
Prior experience designing evaluations and production training pipelines for large-scale models in a high-growth environment
Company
Perplexity
Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine designed to provide accurate, real-time responses to user queries.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Perplexity has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (12)
2024 (7)
2023 (2)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$1.48BKey Investors
Cristiano RonaldoNuVenturesAccel
2025-12-05Undisclosed
2025-09-10Series Unknown· $200M
2025-08-15Secondary Market
Leadership Team
Aravind Srinivas
Cofounder, President, CEO
Denis Yarats
Co-Founder & CTO
Recent News
Business Standard India
2026-02-02
Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups
2026-02-02
2026-01-24
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