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AI Research Lead

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Perplexity

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Location:
United States , San Francisco

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Category:
IT - Software Development

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Contract Type:
Not provided

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Salary:

300000.00 - 470000.00 USD / Year
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Job Description:

Perplexity is seeking an exceptional AI Research Tech Lead to drive our research strategy and lead the development of our in-house Online LLMs, the Sonar models. In this leadership role, you will set the macro research direction across different modalities, mentor a team of researchers, and take advantage of our rich query/answer dataset to continue scaling our Sonar model performance and deliver the SOTA Online LLM experience to our users.

Job Responsibility:

  • Define and execute the macro research direction across multiple modalities, including post-training LLMs for agent trajectories and future mid-training initiatives
  • Lead strategic research planning and roadmap development to advance Sonar model capabilities
  • Drive innovation in supervised and reinforcement learning techniques for query answering
  • Collaborate with leadership to align research priorities with product and business objectives
  • Coach and mentor a team of AI research scientists and engineers, fostering their technical and professional growth
  • Establish the long-term macro research direction across the team, including our direction across different modalities
  • Lead hiring and onboarding of new research talent
  • Create a collaborative environment that encourages knowledge sharing and innovation
  • Post-train SOTA LLMs on query answering using cutting-edge supervised and reinforcement learning techniques
  • Own and optimize the full stack data, training, and evaluation pipelines required for LLM post-training
  • Deliver Sonar models that provide SOTA query answering performance
  • Drive research into agent trajectories and multi-modal capabilities
  • Lead the technical roadmap for eventual mid-training investments
  • Work closely with engineering teams to integrate Sonar models into our product
  • Partner with product teams to understand user needs and translate them into research priorities
  • Collaborate with data teams to leverage our unique query/answer dataset effectively
  • Communicate research progress and findings to stakeholders across the organization

Requirements:

  • Minimum of 5 years of experience working on relevant AI/ML projects with 3+ years in a technical leadership role
  • Proven track record of leading and mentoring technical and research teams
  • A Computer Science graduate degree at a premier academic institution
  • Deep expertise with large-scale LLMs and Deep Learning systems
  • Strong programming skills with versatility across multiple languages and frameworks
  • Demonstrated ability to set technical vision and drive execution
  • Experience with pre-training and post-training techniques (self-supervised learning along with SFT/DPO/GRPO/PPO)
  • Self-starter with exceptional ownership mentality and ability to work in ambiguous environments
  • Passion for solving challenging problems and pushing the boundaries of AI research

Nice to have:

  • PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, or related areas
  • Experience with agent-based AI systems and multi-modal model development
  • Background in mid-training or pre-training of large language models
  • Publications in top-tier AI/ML conferences
  • Experience in fast-paced startup environments
  • Track record of translating research into production systems
What we offer:
  • Equity
  • Health
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • Retirement
  • Fitness
  • Commuter and dependent care accounts

Additional Information:

Job Posted:
February 21, 2026

Employment Type:
Fulltime
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