Engineering Site Lead

Perplexity is revolutionizing how people discover and interact with information through AI-powered search and knowledge tools. As we expand our global footprint, we're establishing a strategic presence in London to drive innovation and growth across Europe.The Role:We're seeking an exceptional Site Lead to establish and scale our London office. This is a unique opportunity to shape Perplexity's presence in one of the world's leading tech hubs, building teams and culture from the ground up while driving technical excellence in infrastructure and AI systems.As Site Lead, you'll serve as the face of Perplexity in London, responsible for building our technical organization, fostering a world-class engineering culture, and directly managing one or more infrastructure teams. You'll report to senior leadership and work cross-functionally with teams across our global footprint.The individual in this role will manage teams in LON themselves while also facilitating.Responsibilities:Site Leadership & CultureEstablish and lead Perplexity's London office, setting the cultural foundation and operating principlesBuild a collaborative, high-performance engineering culture that aligns with Perplexity's values while embracing the strengths of the London tech ecosystemServe as the primary point of contact for all London-based activities and represent the site in company-wide strategic discussionsPartner with People/HR, Finance, and Operations to ensure seamless site operationsDrive local community engagement, partnerships, and Perplexity's brand presence in the London and European tech communityTechnical Leadership:Directly manage and mentor one or more infrastructure or AI infrastructure teams in London (5-15+ engineers)Set technical direction and strategy for London-based infrastructure initiatives in alignment with company-wide goalsDrive architectural decisions and technical excellence across teamsEnsure robust systems for deployment, monitoring, scalability, and reliability of infrastructure supporting AI/ML workloadsCollaborate with engineering leaders globally to align on technical standards, best practices, and cross-site initiativesTeam Building & Talent:Build and scale high-performing infrastructure and AI infrastructure teams through strategic hiringDevelop and execute talent acquisition strategy for the London site in partnership with recruitingCreate career development frameworks and growth opportunities for engineersFoster technical mentorship and knowledge sharing across teams and sitesCross-functional Collaboration:Partner with Product, Engineering, and Research teams globally to understand infrastructure needs and deliver solutionsCoordinate with other site leads and engineering leaders to ensure effective cross-site collaborationContribute to company-wide infrastructure strategy and roadmap planningFacilitate knowledge transfer and best practice sharing across global teamsQualifications:Required10+ years of experience in software engineering with 5+ years in infrastructure, cloud infrastructure, or AI infrastructure roles3+ years of people management experience, including building and scaling teamsProven track record of establishing or significantly growing an engineering site or officeDeep technical expertise in distributed systems, cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), and infrastructure automationExperience with infrastructure supporting large-scale AI/ML systems, including:GPU infrastructure and orchestrationML training and inference pipelinesModel serving and deployment at scaleStrong understanding of modern infrastructure technologies: Kubernetes, Terraform, container orchestration, CI/CD systemsDemonstrated ability to set technical vision and drive execution across multiple teamsExcellent communication and stakeholder management skillsExperience working in fast-paced, high-growth technology companiesPassion for building inclusive, diverse, and high-performing teamsPreferredExperience at companies focused on AI/ML, search ... (truncated, view full listing at source)