SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Perplexity AI is seeking a Senior Cinematographer to lead the visual storytelling for the brand studio. You'll work with the Creative Director and Video Lead to define and execute Perplexity's cinematographic language across all video output—from candid office moments and executive interviews to full-scale brand films and product launches.
This is a hands-on role that spans the full production spectrum. You'll shoot and light day-to-day content (interviews, product demos, social, events, documentary stories), lead cinematography on brand campaigns and launches, and scale your approach from solo work with minimal kit to leading full camera and lighting crews. You'll own all creative and technical decisions: building camera packages, running tech scouts, managing lighting and movement, and solving production constraints before the shoot.
Beyond capture, you'll help design and maintain the in-house studio—selecting gear, designing flexible lighting setups, and keeping the space production-ready. You'll recommend crew and equipment for each production, manage the team's gear inventory, and handle color grading in DaVinci Resolve when turnaround is tight. You'll report to the Video Lead and collaborate closely with the Video Producer, Brand Lead, designers, motion designers, and external production partners.
The role demands both technical mastery and storytelling sensibility. You'll bring creative ideas through moodboards, shot lists, and storyboards, while maintaining a strong visual standard across formats and crew sizes. You should think like a storyteller, not just a technician, with the judgment to make premium images under real constraints and the collaborative mindset to work within and strengthen an existing brand.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 6+ years as a cinematographer or DP across branded, commercial, documentary, and interview work
- Standout reel demonstrating visual authorship, lighting craft, camera movement, and ability to capture honest, unscripted moments
- Strong point of view paired with sensitivity to work within and strengthen an existing brand
- Deep command of camera systems, lenses, exposure, color pipelines, lighting, grip, and on-set monitoring
- Genuinely hands-on: comfortable building a camera, shaping light, operating, troubleshooting, and leading a crew
- Judgment to make premium images under real constraints, solo or leading full production
- Strong pre-production instincts: translating creative ideas into technically sound, right-sized plans
- Experience briefing and leading freelance crews and vendors on set, managing professional production equipment
- Working proficiency in DaVinci Resolve for color grading, selects, and light edits
- Collaborative, low-ego approach: bring strong opinions, take direction, solve problems with partners
- Comfortable moving fast in ambiguous, high-output environment without compromising craft, safety, or footage
- Based in or able to work on-site in San Francisco, with flexibility for travel and long shoot days
NICE TO HAVE:
- Strong Bay Area and Los Angeles network of camera, lighting, grip, sound, production, and rental partners
- Experience within in-house brand studio at technology or consumer company
- Strong documentary instincts and experience working with founders, executives, talent, or non-professional performers
- Experience with multi-camera interviews, live events, tabletop/product cinematography, motion-control systems, or virtual production
- Color-grading experience and understanding of how capture decisions carry through finishing and delivery
About Perplexity AI
AI / Data / Infrastructure — AI answer engine and search product for consumers and enterprises.
