Let \(\mathcal {B}\) be a separable simple stable purely infinite C*-algebra, and let \(\mathcal {M}(\mathcal {B})\) be the multiplier algebra of \(\mathcal {B}\) . We find a multiplier algebra analog of a result of Brown, Pearcy and Salinas, proving that for all \(X \in \mathcal {M}(\mathcal {B})\) , there exists a nilpotent operator \(N \in \mathcal {M}(\mathcal {B})\) for which \(X + N\) is invertible in \(\mathcal {M}(\mathcal {B})\) if and only if \(X \notin \mathcal {B}\) . Related to the above, we also have multiplier analogs of results of Dyer–Porcelli–Rosenfeld and Aiken, as well as results in the simple C*-algebra context.