AfterQueryCoding & software eval
Software/ML Engineer
$125/hr
About this role, in AfterQuery's words
We're assembling a group of senior software and ML engineers to work on one of the hardest open problems in AI today: how well can frontier models reason about LLM inference systems, GPU-level performance optimization, and model-serving architecture? You'll help design evaluation scenarios, write reference solutions, and grade model outputs on real systems-engineering problems — the same class of problems you likely work on day-to-day.
What you'll do
Responsibilities
- What You'll Do Design realistic technical scenarios and problem sets in LLM inference optimization, GPU kernel design, and systems performance engineering
Candidate background
Required qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
- Strong, hands-on background in one or more of: GPU inference optimization, custom CUDA kernel development, model-serving systems (e.g., vLLM, TensorRT-LLM, SGLang), quantization, or optimizer design
- Experience at a recognized technology or AI company, in a role with real systems-engineering ownership
- Strong written communication — you'll be authoring technical explanations and feedback, not just code
Preferred qualifications
Show all 3 itemsHide these 3 items in Preferred qualifications
- Direct experience with SGLang, Mamba/Mamba2 architectures, or IBM Granite-family models
- Open-source contributions to inference/serving frameworks (vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, etc.)
- Experience with distributed inference (tensor/expert parallelism, continuous batching, KV-cache optimization)
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 ↗
We're assembling a group of senior software and ML engineers to work on one of the hardest open problems in AI today: how well can frontier models reason about LLM inference systems, GPU-level performance optimization, and model-serving architecture? You'll help design evaluation scenarios, write reference solutions, and grade model outputs on real systems-engineering problems — the same class of problems you likely work on day-to-day.
This is a research-and-evaluation role, not a traditional engineering job — you won't be shipping production code for us, you'll be defining what "correct" and "excellent" look like for AI models tackling the problems you already know deeply.
Responsibilities - What You'll Do Design realistic technical scenarios and problem sets in LLM inference optimization, GPU kernel design, and systems performance engineering
Required qualifications - Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field - Strong, hands-on background in one or more of: GPU inference optimization, custom CUDA kernel development, model-serving systems (e.g., vLLM, TensorRT-LLM, SGLang), quantization, or optimizer design - Experience at a recognized technology or AI company, in a role with real systems-engineering ownership - Strong written communication — you'll be authoring technical explanations and feedback, not just code
Preferred qualifications - Direct experience with SGLang, Mamba/Mamba2 architectures, or IBM Granite-family models - Open-source contributions to inference/serving frameworks (vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, etc.) - Experience with distributed inference (tensor/expert parallelism, continuous batching, KV-cache optimization)
Why apply - Remote, contract, part-time - Flexible — work on your own schedule
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 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, $125, is in the top quarter. Of the 141 distinct rates we count, 110 are lower and 26 are higher.
| Platform | Roles | Top of range, per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Alignerr | 137 | $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 26 Aug 2026, and still on AfterQuery's list when we last read it on 12 Oct 2026.
- Listed pay changed on 29 Sep 2026: up to $150/hr before, $125/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
- 1784753421052
Pay as the source states it: “$125/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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