AfterQueryCoding & software eval
ML Research Expert: Published First Author (Benchmark Authoring)
$150/hr
About this role, in AfterQuery's words
Paid, remote work authoring and validating research-grade ML benchmark tasks. For Master's or PhD-level ML researchers with at least one first-author paper.
What you'll do
Responsibilities
- Design realistic ML research tasks and problem sets within your area of expertise
- Author expert-level reference solutions and grading rubrics
Candidate background
Requirements
- Experience: 1+ years of hands-on ML research; no upper limit
- Education: Master's or PhD (in progress is fine, including current PhD candidates)
Required qualifications
- At least one first-author research paper in machine learning or a closely related field
- Master's or PhD in ML, CS, statistics, mathematics or a related quantitative field, completed or in progress
- Hands-on experience writing ML code (training, evaluation or systems work), not annotation or data labelling
- Meets the experience and education bar described in Full Description
Preferred qualifications
Show all 3 itemsHide these 3 items in Preferred qualifications
- Multiple first-author publications, or papers reporting measured improvements over a baseline
- Publications at venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ACL, EMNLP, CoRL or MLSys
- Depth in one or more of the listed task areas rather than broad familiarity
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 ↗
Paid, remote work authoring and validating research-grade ML benchmark tasks. For Master's or PhD-level ML researchers with at least one first-author paper.
Domain: Machine Learning / AI Research
Requirements
• Experience: 1+ years of hands-on ML research; no upper limit
• Education: Master's or PhD (in progress is fine, including current PhD candidates)
The work
You will design and validate tasks that measure what frontier AI models can actually do across machine learning. We are looking for people who write ML code and publish results, not for annotation or data-labelling experience.
Task areas span: Language Models, Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Vision & Generation, Robotics, ML Systems & Efficient ML, Optimization & Theory, Classical & Adaptive Learning, Time Series & Forecasting, Structured & Causal Reasoning, Trustworthy Learning, and AI for Science.
Application process
Candidates who meet the requirements and provide the requested materials will be prioritised for review. As part of this process we conduct thorough background checks. Please apply only if you meet these requirements.
Responsibilities - Design realistic ML research tasks and problem sets within your area of expertise - Author expert-level reference solutions and grading rubrics
Required qualifications - At least one first-author research paper in machine learning or a closely related field - Master's or PhD in ML, CS, statistics, mathematics or a related quantitative field, completed or in progress - Hands-on experience writing ML code (training, evaluation or systems work), not annotation or data labelling - Meets the experience and education bar described in Full Description
Preferred qualifications - Multiple first-author publications, or papers reporting measured improvements over a baseline - Publications at venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ACL, EMNLP, CoRL or MLSys - Depth in one or more of the listed task areas rather than broad familiarity
Why apply - Work on frontier AI research problems in your area of deep expertise - Fully remote, asynchronous and flexible, 5 to 40 hours a week - Competitive hourly compensation ($150)
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, $150, is in the top quarter. Of the 140 distinct rates we count, 122 are lower and 11 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 18 Sep 2026, and still on AfterQuery's list when we last read it on 12 Oct 2026.
- Listed pay changed on 24 Sep 2026: up to $150/hr before, $150/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
- 1789506215159
Pay as the source states it: “$150/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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