Staff Software Engineer - Authentication & Identity

Job Description

Perplexity is looking for a Staff Authentication & Identity Engineer to join their team. The candidate will be responsible for designing and building robust authentication systems, architecting secure authentication flows, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to unify authentication across platforms. Perplexity is a company that is experiencing tremendous growth and adoption since publicly launching the world's first fully functional conversational answer engine in 2022. The company's employee base grew nearly 300% in 2024, and they're just getting started. This role offers the opportunity to revolutionize secure, scalable access management for enterprise customers and individual users alike.

• Designing and building robust authentication systems for Next.js-based web applications
• Architecting secure, modern authentication flows using OAuth 2.0, JWT, and passwordless/email providers
• Collaborating cross-functionally with frontend, backend, security, and mobile teams to unify authentication across platforms
• Evolving access control systems, including role-based permissions and ACLs for customer-specific resource management
• Optimizing authentication performance and reliability while maintaining strict security standards
• Owning critical components of our authentication stack, from prototyping to production deployment

• 5+ years of web development experience, including 3+ years building authentication systems
• Expertise in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Next.js, and NextAuth.js
• Deep knowledge of OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and modern security protocols
• Experience designing high-scale architectures (100k+ requests/sec) with cloud platforms like AWS
• Proficiency with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) for auth-related data
• Strong problem-solving skills and commitment to code simplicity/performance

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan
• Equity