AfterQueryCoding & software eval
Professional Engineer Expert
$148/hr
About this role, in AfterQuery's words
Licensed professional engineers to build the design and review scenarios frontier AI labs use to test model judgment.
What you'll do
Responsibilities
- Author realistic engineering scenarios from design through review and approval
- Write reference answers with the code and safety reasoning behind each decision
- Grade model output for technical accuracy and code compliance
- Flag designs that read plausible but would not meet code or safety standards
Candidate background
Who this is for
- Engineers with an active PE license in at least one US state
- Practitioners with at least 2 years of professional practice in their discipline
- Engineers with design review and responsible charge experience
- Clear writers who can document the reasoning behind an engineering decision
Required qualifications
- Active PE license in at least one US state
- 2+ years of professional practice in your engineering discipline
- Experience with design review and responsible charge of engineering work
- Clear written English for documenting engineering reasoning
- Able to commit at least 10 hours per week
Preferred qualifications
Show all 3 itemsHide these 3 items in Preferred qualifications
- PE licenses in more than one state
- Plan review, permitting, or expert witness experience
- Depth across multiple disciplines such as civil, mechanical, or electrical
Quoted from selected sections of AfterQuery'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 AfterQuery's words
Posted by AfterQuery, reproduced here so you can judge the role before clicking. Original posting ↗
Licensed professional engineers to build the design and review scenarios frontier AI labs use to test model judgment.
AfterQuery builds the expert evaluation data that frontier AI labs use to measure and improve their models. We're hiring licensed professional engineers as contractors to author and grade the design and review scenarios those evaluations run on.
What you'll actually do
• Author realistic engineering scenarios, from design through review and approval
• Write reference answers with the code and safety reasoning behind each decision
• Grade model output for technical accuracy and code compliance
• Flag designs that read plausible but would not meet code or safety standards
Who this is for
• Engineers with an active PE license in at least one US state
• Practitioners with at least 2 years of professional practice in their discipline
• Engineers with design review and responsible charge experience
• Clear writers who can document the reasoning behind an engineering decision
Contract and pay
• $105 to $190/hr , paid weekly via Stripe. Your rate is set from your experience, not negotiated down after you start.
• Fully remote, fully async. No fixed hours.
• Minimum 10 hours per week, no maximum. Scale up or down week to week.
• No screen recording, no keystroke monitoring, no idle timers.
• Independent contractor. Ongoing project work rather than single task batches.
How our hiring process works
• Apply at /apply/professional-engineer-expert. About five minutes. Resume plus a few structured questions.
• Resume review. Every application gets read against a published rubric and gets a decision.
• Written assessment. You may be asked to take a written assessment for further placement.
• Onboarding. Sign the contractor agreement, connect Stripe, and get platform access.
• Project match. You're matched to live work in your specialty, usually within a week of onboarding.
About AfterQuery
AfterQuery is an expert data lab. We build the evaluation and training data that frontier AI labs use to measure what their models can and can't do in real professional work. Our contributors are practicing professionals, not annotators, and the work is credited, reviewed, and paid at professional rates.
Responsibilities - Author realistic engineering scenarios from design through review and approval - Write reference answers with the code and safety reasoning behind each decision - Grade model output for technical accuracy and code compliance - Flag designs that read plausible but would not meet code or safety standards
Required qualifications - Active PE license in at least one US state - 2+ years of professional practice in your engineering discipline - Experience with design review and responsible charge of engineering work - Clear written English for documenting engineering reasoning - Able to commit at least 10 hours per week
Preferred qualifications - PE licenses in more than one state - Plan review, permitting, or expert witness experience - Depth across multiple disciplines such as civil, mechanical, or electrical
Why apply - $105 to $190/hr, paid weekly via Stripe - 100% remote and fully async - Shape how frontier models reason about licensed engineering work - Ongoing project work with hours you set each week
Working with AfterQueryPay, getting started and work, from AfterQuery's own pages
What the platform publishes in general. These are not extra terms confirmed for this particular role.
- Getting paid
- Approved work is paid every Friday for the prior week, by Stripe to a bank account, with no fees. Stripe holds the first payout for 7 days. docs.afterquery.com/articles/payments-taxes/payment-setup
- Before your first paid task
- One assessment per expert pool, unpaid and with no retake. Onboarding takes about 10 minutes: legal documents, phone, ID through Persona, and payments. docs.afterquery.com/articles/onboarding/assessments, docs.afterquery.com/articles/onboarding/complete-your-onb...
- How much work
- Projects are assigned by assessment fit as they come up, and higher-rated contributors get priority. docs.afterquery.com/articles/onboarding/assessments, docs.afterquery.com/articles/about/contract-work
- Contract
- Independent contractor. Most contractors register as individuals. docs.afterquery.com/articles/about/contract-work, docs.afterquery.com/articles/onboarding/complete-your-onb...
Read on the pages linked above on 23 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 AfterQuery's posting. How we count.
Pay across the field: Coding & software eval
Across 392 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 $90. This role's top rate, $148, is in the top quarter. Of the 138 distinct rates we count, 120 are lower and 18 are higher.
| Platform | Roles | Top of range, per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Alignerr | 127 | $50 to $400 · median $100 |
| micro1 | 49 | $60 to $400 · median $110 |
| Handshake AI | 43 | $47 to $125 · median $80 |
| Mercor | 36 | $60 to $200 · median $110 |
| Meridial (Invisible) | 34 | $22 to $150 · median $60 |
Sources and listing historyWhere this information comes from
This listing's history
- First seen here on 28 Aug 2026, and still on AfterQuery's list when we last read it on 24 Oct 2026.
- Listed pay changed on 13 Oct 2026: $147.50/hr before, $148/hr after.
- Listed pay changed on 29 Sep 2026: up to $190/hr before, $147.50/hr after.
A change can also be a correction to how we read AfterQuery's feed. The figure at the top of this page is always the latest read.
- Posted by AfterQuery
- First seen by AIPayList
- Last seen live
- Listing ID
- 1787865392425
Pay as the source states it: “$148/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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