Forward-Deployed Engineer - API Platform

Introduction At Perplexity AI, the API Platform powers AI-native search, retrieval, and automation for some of the world's most innovative companies. Our Support team is the frontline for developer and enterprise success-ensuring that customers can build fast, reliable, and differentiated products on top of API's capabilities. We don't just answer tickets-we partner deeply with customers, Product, and Engineering to architect solutions, debug complex integrations, and influence the roadmap based on real-world developer needs. About the Role We're looking for a Forward-Deployed Engineer to be a hands-on technical partner for our API customers. This is a deeply technical, customer-facing role-equal parts solution architect, developer advocate, and technical program manager. You'll work end-to-end with developers, product teams, and executives at our customers' organizations-from designing their API-powered architecture to optimizing query performance and implementing new features. You'll also contribute to internal tooling, docs, and demos that make API adoption easier and more impactful. Key Responsibilities • Serve as the dedicated technical partner for strategic API Platform customers, guiding them through architecture design, integration, and optimization. • Troubleshoot API performance, grounding quality, and integration challenges-diving directly into code and logs when needed. • Prototype example integrations, search workflows, and demos to accelerate adoption and inspire customer innovation. • Collaborate with Engineering and Product to resolve high-priority escalations, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum reliability. • Capture and synthesize customer feedback to improve API features, SDKs, and developer experience. • Maintain deep familiarity with the API Platform's latest capabilities, competitive positioning, and best practices, and use this knowledge to advise customers. What We're Looking For Must-Haves • 5+ years in technical support engineering, software engineering, or solutions engineering, with direct application development experience. • Strong API integration skills-able to design and debug REST/JSON payloads, manage auth flows, and optimize latency. • Proven track record of diagnosing complex technical issues across distributed systems, APIs, and customer environments. • Excellent communicator who can work with both developer teams and non-technical stakeholders. • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent hands-on experience. Nice-to-Haves • Experience working with search, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), or AI/ML APIs. • Background in developer tools or platform engineering, especially in high-scale or low-latency environments. • Strong familiarity with Python or JavaScript for building integrations, SDKs, or prototypes. • History of working at startups or small teams where you owned customer projects end-to-end. Why Join Us The API Platform is quickly becoming a core infrastructure layer for AI-powered search and automation. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll help shape how our customers-from startups to Fortune 500s-bring their most ambitious ideas to life. You'll be joining a fast-moving, high-impact team where your technical skills, creativity, and ability to bridge product and customer needs will directly influence both the API Platform's roadmap and its market success.