Role details
We're looking for a Senior Cinematographer to define how Perplexity looks on film. Working with the Creative Director and Video Lead, you'll translate our visual identity into a practical cinematographic language, then bring it to life across the team's day-to-day output.
This is a hands-on role. One day you're shooting a candid office moment or executive interview with a small kit; the next, you're leading a full camera and lighting crew on a brand film. Most of your time goes to prepping, testing, lighting, and shooting.
- You'll also help build and run our in-house studio, from selecting gear and designing flexible lighting setups to keeping the space production-ready. When turnaround is tight, you'll support media management and light editing.
- You'll report to the Video Lead and work closely with the Video Producer, Brand Lead, designers, motion designers, Growth, Comms, Product Marketing, and external production partners.
- The Producer and Video Lead handle crewing, budgets, schedules, and logistics so you can stay focused on production and craft.
- However, you should think like a storyteller, not just a technician, bringing your own ideas for how to show our product and people more vividly through moodboards, shot lists, storyboards, and a willingness to experiment.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Partner with the Creative Director and Video Lead to define and evolve Perplexity's cinematographic language, and turn it into repeatable approaches for lighting, lensing, composition, movement, and color.
- Shoot and light a steady mix of day-to-day content: candid office moments, executive interviews, product demos, social, events, and documentary stories.
- Lead cinematography on brand films, campaigns, partnerships, and launches.
- Scale to the work: operate solo with a minimal kit, lead a small crew, or help build a full camera, lighting, grip, team (with help from producers).
- Bring storytelling ideas to the table through moodboards, shot lists, storyboards, and experimentation.
- Own camera, lighting, and movement decisions from creative development through capture: build packages, run tests and tech scouts, and solve constraints before the shoot.
- Recommend crew and equipment for each production and lead the camera and lighting departments on set. Producers handle budgets, schedules, contracts, and logistics.
- Help design, build, and run the in-house studio, including lighting, audio, grip, and monitoring.
- Own the team's gear: recommend, purchase, organize, and maintain it, with ready-to-shoot packages so no setup gets rebuilt from scratch.
- Handle color grading in DaVinci Resolve, and support selects, stringouts, and light edits when turnaround is tight.
- Keep the visual standard high across formats and crew sizes without overbuilding.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- 6+ years as a cinematographer or DP across branded, commercial, documentary, and interview work.
- A standout reel showing visual authorship, lighting craft, camera movement, and an eye for honest, unscripted moments.
- A strong point of view, paired with the 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: equally comfortable building a camera, shaping light, operating, troubleshooting, and leading a crew.
- The judgment to make premium images under real constraints, solo with a small kit or leading a full production.
- Strong pre-production instincts: turning a creative idea into a technically sound, right-sized plan.
- Experience briefing and leading freelance crews and vendors on set, and managing professional production equipment.
- Working proficiency in DaVinci Resolve for color grading, selects, and light edits.
- Collaborative and low-ego. You bring a strong opinion, take direction, and solve problems with partners.
- Comfortable moving fast in an 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
- A strong Bay Area and Los Angeles network of camera, lighting, grip, sound, production, and rental partners.
- Experience within an in-house brand studio at a technology or consumer company.
- Strong documentary instincts and experience working with founders, executives, talent, or people who are not professional performers.
- Experience with multi-camera interviews, live events, tabletop or product cinematography, motion-control systems, or virtual production.
- Color-grading experience and a strong understanding of how capture decisions carry through finishing and delivery.