MercorOther AI work
Legacy Codebase Migration Expert
$200/hr
About this role, in Mercor's words
Mercor is partnering with a frontier AI research lab to engage experienced software engineers with deep expertise in legacy codebase migration and modernisation . We are looking for engineers who have personally executed complex migrations across large, production-grade systems , particularly in financial services, fintech/payments, insurance, healthcare, telecom, large technology companies, and other mission-critical enterprises . Strong hands-on experience with production migrations is the primary qualification.
What you'll do
- Design, implement, review, and evaluate complex codebase migration and modernisation tasks .
- Analyse legacy code, dependencies, APIs, databases, build systems, and infrastructure to determine safe migration approaches.
- Preserve functionality, backwards compatibility, data integrity, security, and performance during migrations.
Show all 5 itemsHide the other 2 in What you'll do
- Develop tests and validation strategies to identify migration regressions and behavioural differences.
- Evaluate AI-generated migration solutions for correctness, completeness, maintainability, and production readiness .
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 partnering with a frontier AI research lab to engage experienced software engineers with deep expertise in legacy codebase migration and modernisation . We are looking for engineers who have personally executed complex migrations across large, production-grade systems , particularly in financial services, fintech/payments, insurance, healthcare, telecom, large technology companies, and other mission-critical enterprises . Strong hands-on experience with production migrations is the primary qualification.
What You'll Do
• Design, implement, review, and evaluate complex codebase migration and modernisation tasks .
• Analyse legacy code, dependencies, APIs, databases, build systems, and infrastructure to determine safe migration approaches.
• Preserve functionality, backwards compatibility, data integrity, security, and performance during migrations.
• Develop tests and validation strategies to identify migration regressions and behavioural differences.
• Evaluate AI-generated migration solutions for correctness, completeness, maintainability, and production readiness .
Relevant Migration Experience
Candidates should have deep expertise in one or more of the following:
• Language/version: Java 8 → 17/21, legacy .NET → modern .NET, Python 2 → 3, PHP 7 → 8
• Language rewrites: COBOL → Java/Python, JavaScript → TypeScript
• Frameworks: Angular, Rails, Django, Spring/Spring Boot, ASP.NET, Next.js/Astro, and other major framework upgrades/replacements
• Databases & ORMs: Oracle/MySQL → PostgreSQL, SQL → NoSQL, Hibernate → jOOQ, Sequelize → Prisma, raw SQL → ORM
• Infrastructure: VMs/bare metal → containers, Docker/Kubernetes, cloud-native architectures
• CI/CD: Jenkins/Travis → GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or modern deployment pipelines
• Build/package tooling: Maven → Gradle, Webpack → Vite, CRA → Next.js, npm → pnpm
• APIs: REST → GraphQL, HTTP/REST → gRPC, SOAP/legacy APIs → modern interfaces
• Authentication: Legacy auth → OAuth/OIDC, SAML/SSO, modern identity and authorisation systems
• Repositories: Polyrepo → monorepo using Bazel, Nx, Turborepo, or similar
• Testing: Migration of unit, integration, browser, and E2E testing frameworks
• Dependencies/SDKs: Replacement of deprecated or EOL libraries, APIs, runtimes, and vendor SDKs
Ideal Background
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience , ideally Senior, Staff, Principal, or equivalent.
• Personally owned or made substantial technical contributions to large-scale production migrations .
• Experience working with mature systems involving technical debt, complex dependencies, legacy integrations, and significant regression risk.
• Strong knowledge of compatibility, testing, observability, staged rollouts, rollback strategies, and behavioural equivalence .
• Ability to reason deeply about unfamiliar codebases and diagnose subtle migration failures.
• Especially valuable: engineers who have modernised core banking, payments, trading, insurance, healthcare, telecom, or other high-reliability systems .
• For COBOL/mainframe modernisation, experience with technologies such as z/OS, CICS, JCL, DB2, VSAM, batch processing, and COBOL-to-Java/Python migrations is particularly valuable.
Why Join
• Apply your migration expertise to help shape how frontier AI models understand and execute complex software modernisation .
• Work on technically challenging problems modelled after real-world, production-scale legacy systems .
• Contribute expertise developed from large enterprise migrations without needing an open-source maintainer background.
• Opportunity for ongoing work as the research program expands.
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
- Hearing back after the AI interview usually takes 2 to 4 weeks. 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-handSources and listing historyWhere this information comes from
This listing's history
- First seen here on 22 Aug 2026, and still on Mercor's list when we last read it on 13 Oct 2026.
- Posted by Mercor
- First seen by AIPayList
- Last seen live
- Listing ID
- list_AAABoCl905TW9jWTfs9Oh44S
Pay as the source states it: “200 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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