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Detection & Response Engineer

Perplexity

Perplexity

New York, NY, USA · San Francisco, CA, USA · Palo Alto, CA, USA
USD 250k-350k / year + Equity
Posted on Oct 2, 2025

Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine founded in December 2022 and growing rapidly as one of the world’s leading AI platforms. Perplexity has raised over $1B in venture investment from some of the world’s most visionary and successful leaders, including Elad Gil, Daniel Gross, Jeff Bezos, Accel, IVP, NEA, NVIDIA, Samsung, and many more. Our objective is to build accurate, trustworthy AI that powers decision-making for people and assistive AI wherever decisions are being made. Throughout human history, change and innovation have always been driven by curious people. Today, curious people use Perplexity to answer more than 780 million queries every month–a number that’s growing rapidly for one simple reason: everyone can be curious.

Perplexity is seeking a highly skilled, experienced and hands-on Detection & Response Security Engineer to join our dynamic security team, revolutionizing the way people search and interact with the internet. You’ll build, operate, and evolve detection and response systems, tools, and processes that provide deep visibility and rapid response capabilities, enabling innovation while keeping our users and business secure at scale.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement scalable detection and response solutions that integrate directly into engineering and IT workflows.
  • Lead threat detection projects, investigation workflows, and technical incident response for security events.
  • Build and maintain infrastructure and tools for detection rule lifecycle management and continuous improvement.
  • Develop, measure, and tune detection rules for effective and sustainable operations across our environment (cloud, endpoints, SaaS, AWS, macOS, Windows, etc.).
  • Automate manual response processes and containment actions for security incidents.
  • Ensure deep visibility and control over identity, endpoints, productivity suites, and cloud resources.
  • Collaborate with engineering, IT, and product teams to investigate, remediate, and drive incident postmortems.
  • Drive improvements in IAM, device management, and cloud usage securely.
  • Stay current on adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures; drive ongoing maturity of our detection and response program.
  • Work with external partners (pen testing firms, bug bounty researchers) to rapidly detect and respond to new vulnerabilities and threats.

Qualifications

  • 4+ years of experience in Security Operations, Detection & Response, Incident Response, or similar roles.
  • Strong knowledge of detection engineering, response automation, and SIEM/SOAR toolchains.
  • Experience designing or managing monitoring infrastructure for endpoints, cloud, and SaaS environments.
  • Familiarity with adversary TTPs, threat intelligence, and modern attacker methods.
  • Proficiency in scripting languages (Python, Bash, PowerShell, etc.) for automation.
  • Experience with cloud infrastructure platforms (preferably AWS, Azure).
  • Ability to independently run investigations, manage projects, and prioritize efforts for risk reduction.
  • Bonus: Experience collaborating on cutting-edge AI research or using AI to improve detection and response.

The cash compensation range for this role is $250,000 - $350,000.

Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including, experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Equity: In addition to the base salary, equity may be part of the total compensation package.
Benefits: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents. Includes a 401(k) plan.