MercorCoding & software eval
Software Engineer – Retail Investing Platforms (Paid Expert Interview)
up to $120/hr
About this role, in Mercor's words
Mercor is seeking experienced software engineers at companies that serve retail investors for a short, paid expert interview on behalf of a leading AI company building financial intelligence products. In a single 45–60 minute conversation , you will share how engineering teams like yours evaluate, choose, and integrate third-party APIs and AI vendors. This is a good fit for backend, integrations, or platform engineers (or hands-on tech leads and engineering managers) at online brokerages, investing apps, robo-advisors, neobanks with investing, wealth platforms, or brokerage infrastructure providers.
What you'll do
- Join one 45–60 minute remote interview at a time that works for you.
- Walk through how your team evaluated or shortlisted an outside API or AI vendor (e.g. market data, news/research, identity, or AI chat), and what drove the final decision.
- Share what made integrations go well or badly: documentation, reliability, pricing, security and compliance review, and support.
Show all 5 itemsHide the other 2 in What you'll do
- Give candid feedback on what you would want from vendors serving retail-investing products.
- Please share only your own experience and opinions. You will not be asked for confidential or proprietary information about your employer.
Candidate background
Requirements
- Currently employed in-house (not freelancing or consulting) as a software engineer, backend or integrations engineer, platform engineer, tech lead, or engineering manager who is still hands-on.
- Work at a company that reaches retail investors , such as an online brokerage, investing app, robo-advisor, neobank with investing, wealth platform, or brokerage infrastructure provider.
- Work on the retail product side , not institutional, hedge fund, or asset management desks.
- Evaluated or integrated a third-party API or AI vendor in the past 12 months (or will soon).
- Involved in choosing the vendor (helped evaluate or shortlist), not only building it after the decision was made.
- Based in the United States.
Nice to Have
- Integrated market data, news, research, or AI chat features.
- Experience across different company sizes or seniority levels.
Quoted from selected sections of Mercor'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 Mercor's words
Posted by Mercor, reproduced here so you can judge the role before clicking. Original posting ↗
Mercor is seeking experienced software engineers at companies that serve retail investors for a short, paid expert interview on behalf of a leading AI company building financial intelligence products. In a single 45–60 minute conversation , you will share how engineering teams like yours evaluate, choose, and integrate third-party APIs and AI vendors. This is a good fit for backend, integrations, or platform engineers (or hands-on tech leads and engineering managers) at online brokerages, investing apps, robo-advisors, neobanks with investing, wealth platforms, or brokerage infrastructure providers.
What You'll Do
• Join one 45–60 minute remote interview at a time that works for you.
• Walk through how your team evaluated or shortlisted an outside API or AI vendor (e.g. market data, news/research, identity, or AI chat), and what drove the final decision.
• Share what made integrations go well or badly: documentation, reliability, pricing, security and compliance review, and support.
• Give candid feedback on what you would want from vendors serving retail-investing products.
Please share only your own experience and opinions. You will not be asked for confidential or proprietary information about your employer.
Requirements
• Currently employed in-house (not freelancing or consulting) as a software engineer, backend or integrations engineer, platform engineer, tech lead, or engineering manager who is still hands-on.
• Work at a company that reaches retail investors , such as an online brokerage, investing app, robo-advisor, neobank with investing, wealth platform, or brokerage infrastructure provider.
• Work on the retail product side , not institutional, hedge fund, or asset management desks.
• Evaluated or integrated a third-party API or AI vendor in the past 12 months (or will soon).
• Involved in choosing the vendor (helped evaluate or shortlist), not only building it after the decision was made.
• Based in the United States.
Nice to Have
• Integrated market data, news, research, or AI chat features.
• Experience across different company sizes or seniority levels.
Why Join?
• Paid for your time, with a flexible, one-time commitment that fits alongside your current role.
• Share your perspective to help shape AI and data products built for retail investors.
Working with MercorPay, getting started and work, from Mercor's own pages
What the platform publishes in general. These are not extra terms confirmed for this particular role.
- Getting paid
- Hourly work is paid every Wednesday for the previous week, through Stripe Connect or Wise, whichever Mercor assigns to your region. Stripe holds the first payout for 7 days. talent.docs.mercor.com/how-to/payments, talent.docs.mercor.com/policies/contracts
- Before your first paid task
- An AI interview of about 20 minutes, reused for other roles that need it, then any assessments the role asks for. Before logging hours: ID verification through Persona, a tax form, the contract documents, the Insightful time tracker, and a background check the onboarding guide says usually takes one to two weeks. talent.docs.mercor.com/support/ai-interview, talent.docs.mercor.com/how-to/apply, talent.docs.mercor.com/policies/contracts, talent.docs.mercor.com/how-to/id-verification, talent.docs.mercor.com/working/project-onboarding
- How much work
- The current interview FAQ gives no reply-time estimate. Mercor says it notifies you when your application moves to the next stage and that you can keep applying. When a project ends you are not moved to a new one automatically. talent.docs.mercor.com/support/ai-interview, talent.docs.mercor.com/support/project
- Contract
- Independent contractor with Mercor.io Corporation of San Francisco, which deducts no taxes. talent.docs.mercor.com/policies/taxes-work-authorization, talent.docs.mercor.com/support/legal
Read on the pages linked above on 23 Sep 2026. Platforms change these terms, so check the linked page before you rely on one.
Alex's experience on MercorA personal account, not a promise about your project
Alexruns this site and has worked on Mercor himself. Written 31 Aug 2026.
- Every interview I took used an AI interviewer. They always checked my microphone and camera and asked me to share my screen, and some included a timed exercise of around 25 minutes.
- Many later applications needed no new interview from me. With the required assessments complete and no other outstanding steps, applying could be close to one click.
- The application I checked did not ask for a rate. My offer matched my minimum in Work Preferences. That does not establish that Mercor always caps higher offers at your preference.
- Onboarding and setup came to about 4 hours, with more security and tool setup. Of the three platforms I worked on, it was the most complicated for me. That is an estimate from my projects, not a platform average.
- Mercor required the Insightful tracker on my project. I observed app and website usage monitoring, and I am unsure which screenshot settings applied, so check the configuration.
- I was paid for hours logged, once every 14 days, and I have not experienced late or incorrect payments. That was my arrangement. Mercor's current documentation describes weekly payout cycles, so check your own offer.
One person's applications, not a promise about yours.
What happens after you apply, first-handHow 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 Mercor's posting. How we count.
Pay across the field: Coding & software eval
Across 391 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, $120, is in the top quarter. Of the 138 distinct rates we count, 95 are lower and 30 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 (this platform) | 34 | $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 23 Oct 2026, and still on Mercor's list when we last read it on 25 Oct 2026.
- The listed pay has not changed since then.
- Posted by Mercor
- First seen by AIPayList
- Last seen live
- Listing ID
- list_AAABoWa5lPEq7jlqhxZNLqEJ
Pay as the source states it: “100–120 USD HOUR”.
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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