Consumer Support Specialist

About the Team The User Operations team at Perplexity AI is the frontline of our user experience. We ensure that our AI-powered search and answer engine delivers real value to every user—from individual consumers to teams and organizations. Our team operates across 3-4 active support channels—email, in-app messaging, Slack, and community—and collaborates closely with Product, Engineering, Billing, and Growth to turn user feedback into product improvements. We’re a lean, fast-moving group at a startup that ships constantly, so everyone on the team wears multiple hats and contributes well beyond just resolving tickets. About the Role Perplexity launches new features and products at a rapid pace—and this role sits at the center of that. We need a User Operations Generalist who combines excellent customer support instincts with real technical depth. You’ll handle high volumes of user inquiries across channels while also digging into product issues, using customer feedback to uncover problems, and providing solutions that improve the experience for everyone. This isn’t just ticket work. As new features and products ship, you’re the person who hears about it first from users—what’s working, what’s confusing, and what’s broken. You’ll use those interactions to surface insights that shape how launches land, identify issues before they scale, and provide clear solutions back to users. You’ll also build automations and improve workflows that make the team faster and smarter, so we can keep up with the pace of the product without sacrificing quality. You should be comfortable operating across multiple support channels and have experience standing up or optimizing multi-channel support operations—not just working in them, but thinking critically about how they’re structured, routed, and scaled. This role requires someone who can navigate ambiguity and fill in the gaps where processes don’t yet exist. You won’t always have a playbook—and that’s the point. We need someone who can define the path forward, not just follow one. You’re a strong, independent operator who doesn’t need to be told what to do next: You see the gap—whether it’s a missing Help Center article, a broken workflow, or a pattern in user tickets—and you move to fix it You’re self-motivated and take initiative, but you also know when to ask questions You communicate effectively with the team—keeping people informed, surfacing blockers early, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks We won’t hold your hand through this role, and we wouldn’t want to—because you’re the kind of person who thrives when given ownership and trust Responsibilities Handle a high volume of user inquiries across channels (email, chat, Slack, community) with speed, accuracy, and empathy for both consumer and business users. Deliver excellent customer support—clear, thoughtful, and human—even under pressure and at scale Triage and prioritize effectively to keep response and resolution times on target Use customer feedback and support interactions as a primary source for uncovering product issues, UX confusion, and feature gaps—especially as new products and features launch Investigate and troubleshoot product issues: reproduce problems, isolate root causes, provide users with solutions or workarounds, and document findings for Engineering Guide users through technical troubleshooting: AI search, LLM behavior, account configuration File well-documented bugs in Linear with enough context for Engineering to act immediately Leverage AI tooling and automation (Intercom, scripts) to streamline operations, reduce repetitive work, and scale support quality Write and maintain Help Center articles, internal SOPs, escalation playbooks, and troubleshooting guides Communicate cross-functionally—surface user insights to Product and Engineering, escalate issues, close the loop, and keep teammates informed Track support KPIs and propose data-driven process improvements Requirements 3+ years in customer support, user operations, or technical support—ideally at a SaaS or tech company Proven ability to manage high ticket volumes while maintaining quality and empathy Excellent customer-facing communication: clear, professional, and adaptable to different audiences Technical aptitude: comfortable working through product issues, navigating technical questions independently, and learning new tools and systems quickly Hands-on experience with AI tools and automation platforms (Intercom workflows, scripting) to improve operations Familiarity with AI, LLMs, or search technologies Strong internal communication—keeps their immediate team informed, writes crisp updates for immediate team and cross-functional partners (Product, Engineering, etc.), and ensures stakeholders stay in the loop on issues and progress Self-motivated and proactive: manages own priorities, takes initiative, delivers without waiting for direction Experience creating user-facing documentation (e.g., Help Center articles, FAQs, guides) as well as internal SOPs, templates, and playbooks Experience with multi-channel support operations—not just working across channels, but helping stand up, optimize, or scale how support is structured and routed Comfortable in a fast-paced, high-volume startup environment with shifting priorities Nice to Have Experience with support and operations tooling such as Intercom, Parahelp, Linear, Notion, or Stripe. Familiarity with prompting techniques and LLM optimization Basic web tech understanding (HTTP, REST APIs, JavaScript, HTML) Data analysis tools (SQL, Looker, Snowflake) Scripting or lightweight automation background (Google Apps Script, Python) Experience at an early-stage or high-growth startup Who You Are You’re the kind of person who: Sees a gap and fills it before anyone asks Thrives in high-volume environments and keeps quality high even when things move fast Thinks creatively—you don’t just follow the playbook, you look for better ways to solve problems and aren’t afraid to try something new Treats every user interaction as a chance to learn something about the product Gets energized by building automations that save the team hours Communicates with clarity—whether writing a Help Center article, filing a bug, or updating the team in Slack Takes full ownership end-to-end: you don’t just escalate, you follow through Why Perplexity? Impact at Scale – Your work directly influences millions of users and shapes the future of AI-powered search. Velocity & Ownership – Ship improvements quickly in a culture that values curiosity, speed, and quality. Cutting-Edge Tech – Operate at the forefront of applied LLMs and help define how AI transforms customer support.