After Perplexity
- 12%Founded something3
- 16%Joined a startup4
- 72%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave Perplexity most often go to OpenAI. Of them, 12% found something next and 16% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 1y 4m
Not Perplexity's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 119 people on a map of 67,181, No. 196 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.
- People on the map
- 1190.2% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 9277% of the people here
- Moved on
- 2723% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 1y 4mmiddle half 1y to 1y 11m
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Meta. Most leave for OpenAI (16% of recorded departures).
47 of 113 recorded arrivals shown, 66 more from 54 other companies4 of 25 recorded departures shown, 21 more to 19 other companies
How long people stay
23%<1y
53%1-2y
21%2-4y
3%4-7y
0%7y+
111 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
0021
4022
6<323
29<324
731525
7926
joined left2026 is a partial year
2021 to 2026: 119 joined, 27 left.
Caliber
84mediantop 10%92
0Eng Scorer caliber, 44 scored99
Titles held here
- Member of Technical Staff41
- AI40
- AI Business Fellow5
- Machine Learning Engineer4
- Technical Staff3
5 most common titles, by people who held them.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 7%Exceptional3 people
- 27%Strong12 people
- 30%Solid13 people
- 30%Emerging13 people
- 7%Unproven3 people
44 of the 119 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
15 of the 44 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 34%. A tier is the band a caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.
Where they studied
- Saint Louis University11.0%
- UC Berkeley10.2%
- Stanford9.3%
- Harvard3.4%
- Princeton3.4%
- University of North Texas3.4%
- University of Virginia3.4%
- Carnegie Mellon2.5%
The 8 most listed schools among the 118 people here with a school on file.
13 of the 118 people here with a school on file list Saint Louis University, 12 list UC Berkeley and 11 list Stanford. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
25%have a public GitHub account on their profile
30 of the 119 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check missed reads the same as no account, so this is a floor.
31% is the median across the 857 companies that can show this figure.
Where they are now
71% of the people who have worked at Perplexity and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.
Perplexity
Everyone on the map
- 71%SF Bay Area84 · map 41%
- 9%New York11 · map 18%
- 4%Washington DC5 · map 13%
- 16%Somewhere else19
All 119 people who worked at Perplexity list a location, and every share here is over them.
Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while working at Perplexity: a metro here isn't an office there. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map.
On the same resumes
Companies that show up most often alongside Perplexity, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 119 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Perplexity: 92 are there now, 27 have moved on.
- Most leave for OpenAI: 4 people, 16% of recorded departures.
- Most arrive from Meta: 21 people. Then NVIDIA and Accenture.
- Median tenure at Perplexity: 1y 4m, middle half 1y to 1y 11m.
- Of the people with a recorded next move after Perplexity, 12% went to a founder title next, 16% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and fewer than 3 joined one of 10,000 or more.
- Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 84 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 44 scored people.
- Most common title held here: Member of Technical Staff, then AI.
- Top school: Saint Louis University, listed by 13 of the 118 people here with one on file (11.0%). Then UC Berkeley (12).
- 71% of the 119 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 41% across the map. Where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
- 25% of the 119 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
About this data: built from 352,028 jobs across 67,181 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated September 30, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving. Companies under 20 people on the map aren't shown, and destinations under 3 people fold into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.
Worked at Perplexity? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 67,181 engineers.
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