AlignerrCoding & software eval
Software Engineer Task Author
up to $120/hr
About this role, in Alignerr's words
Alignerr is building a dataset of expert tasks that train and evaluate advanced AI agents on real enterprise work. As a Task Author for the Software Engineer role, you will design and calibrate real engineering tasks — diagnosing failing integrations from logs, tracing bugs through a codebase, and writing and verifying fixes — that genuinely challenge a capable AI agent. This role requires hands-on engineering skill; generalist profiles cannot do this work.
What you'll do
Key Responsibilities
- Author realistic engineering task prompts: integration failures, log-based debugging, bug traces through source code, and configuration or integration fixes.
- Write scoring rubrics that define exactly what a correct fix or diagnosis looks like and how it is verified — including live environment validation where applicable.
- Set up task environments with realistic codebases, logs, alerts, and system states that drop an AI agent into a plausible engineering situation.
Show all 6 itemsHide the other 3 in Key Responsibilities
- Solve each task yourself — write the actual fix and confirm it works — to validate the task is sound and the rubric is accurate.
- Calibrate task difficulty — adjust code complexity, log volume, failure modes, or ambiguity until the task reliably challenges the model to the intended degree.
- Review and correct AI-drafted task prompts or rubrics when provided.
Candidate background
Qualifications
- Working software engineer with hands-on experience in industry — this is not a theoretical or instructional role.
- Fluency in Git, version control workflows, and code review practices.
- Strong debugging skills: comfortable reading logs, using observability tools, and tracing failures through a codebase.
- Experience with infrastructure, integrations, and configuration code (APIs, services, config files, CI/CD).
- Ability to write and verify a code fix in a live or simulated environment.
- Ability to define precise, checkable correctness criteria for engineering outcomes.
Nice to Have
- Experience in manufacturing, industrial IoT, or enterprise SaaS engineering contexts.
- Background with monitoring/observability platforms (e.g., Datadog, PagerDuty, Grafana).
Quoted from selected sections of Alignerr's posting. The full posting may state other conditions. Read the full posting
A closer look
More context, when you need it.
Full job descriptionThe original posting, in Alignerr's words
Posted by Alignerr, reproduced here so you can judge the role before clicking. Original posting ↗
About the Role
Alignerr is building a dataset of expert tasks that train and evaluate advanced AI agents on real enterprise work. As a Task Author for the Software Engineer role, you will design and calibrate real engineering tasks — diagnosing failing integrations from logs, tracing bugs through a codebase, and writing and verifying fixes — that genuinely challenge a capable AI agent. This role requires hands-on engineering skill; generalist profiles cannot do this work.
Key Responsibilities
- Author realistic engineering task prompts: integration failures, log-based debugging, bug traces through source code, and configuration or integration fixes. - Write scoring rubrics that define exactly what a correct fix or diagnosis looks like and how it is verified — including live environment validation where applicable. - Set up task environments with realistic codebases, logs, alerts, and system states that drop an AI agent into a plausible engineering situation. - Solve each task yourself — write the actual fix and confirm it works — to validate the task is sound and the rubric is accurate. - Calibrate task difficulty — adjust code complexity, log volume, failure modes, or ambiguity until the task reliably challenges the model to the intended degree. - Review and correct AI-drafted task prompts or rubrics when provided. Qualifications
- Working software engineer with hands-on experience in industry — this is not a theoretical or instructional role. - Fluency in Git, version control workflows, and code review practices. - Strong debugging skills: comfortable reading logs, using observability tools, and tracing failures through a codebase. - Experience with infrastructure, integrations, and configuration code (APIs, services, config files, CI/CD). - Ability to write and verify a code fix in a live or simulated environment. - Ability to define precise, checkable correctness criteria for engineering outcomes. Nice to Have
- Experience in manufacturing, industrial IoT, or enterprise SaaS engineering contexts. - Background with monitoring/observability platforms (e.g., Datadog, PagerDuty, Grafana).
Working with AlignerrPay, getting started and work, from Alignerr's own pages
What the platform publishes in general. These are not extra terms confirmed for this particular role.
- Getting paid
- Billed weekly, Monday to Sunday, with approved work paid by the following Friday, according to Labelbox's help center. Payment goes through Stripe Connect or PayPal depending on your location, with one provider per country. intercom.help/labelbox/en/articles/13600616-alignerr-paym..., alignerr.com/process
- Before your first paid task
- Sign up, apply, verify your identity, set up billing and onboard. Some jobs add a Zara AI interview or domain assessments. alignerr.com/process
- How much work
- Time to your first project depends on demand and your skills, and there is no minimum number of hours. alignerr.com/faqs
- Contract
- Independent contractor, under terms with ALIGNERR LLC. alignerr.com/faqs, alignerr.com/privacy
Read on the pages linked above on 24 Sep 2026. Platforms change these terms, so check the linked page before you rely on one.
How does the pay compare?Across Coding & software eval roles, not this role alone
From our own daily reads of every open listing on the platforms we follow, not from Alignerr's posting. How we count.
Pay across the field: Coding & software eval
Across 393 roles in this field with a stated hourly rate in US dollars, on 14 platforms, the middle half pays $65 to $120 an hour at the top of the range, and the median is $95. This role's top rate, $120, is in the top quarter. Of the 141 distinct rates we count, 97 are lower and 31 are higher.
| Platform | Roles | Top of range, per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Alignerr (this platform) | 136 | $50 to $400 · median $100 |
| micro1 | 46 | $35 to $350 · median $110 |
| Handshake AI | 43 | $47 to $125 · median $80 |
| Meridial (Invisible) | 34 | $22 to $150 · median $60 |
| Mercor | 33 | $60 to $200 · median $105 |
Sources and listing historyWhere this information comes from
This listing's history
- First seen here on 27 Aug 2026, and still on Alignerr's list when we last read it on 12 Oct 2026.
- The listed pay has not changed since then.
- Posted by Alignerr
- First seen by AIPayList
- Last seen live
- Listing ID
- eed59f1d-51c1-4066-b4d3-f86c1564faf3
Pay as the source states it: “$80-120/hr”.
Platforms sometimes change a rate after posting. Every listing here is re-read at least once a day and corrected when its source moves, so a difference you see on the platform is usually a change made since the last read. How freshness works.
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