MercorCoding & software eval
Software Engineering Expert
up to $150/hr
About this role, in Mercor's words
The research teams behind the best-known AI models come to Mercor for software engineering judgment they can't generate on their own. Your standards and expertise become the rubric that frontier AI is graded against.
Candidate background
What we're looking for
- Professional experience building and shipping software
- Clear written communication, since most of the work involves explaining your reasoning
- Comfort with ambiguous tasks, and willingness to flag unclear instructions
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 ↗
The research teams behind the best-known AI models come to Mercor for software engineering judgment they can't generate on their own. Your standards and expertise become the rubric that frontier AI is graded against.
This is a standing listing for engineers who want AI training and evaluation work, not a specific job opening. It stays open whether or not a matching project is running this week.
New projects start on short notice, so instead of posting and pulling a listing each time, we keep one open per field and draw from it when one begins.
What the work looks like
We match engineers in the network to projects like:
• Writing an engineering problem from a system you have shipped, with the requirements, the constraints, and the failure modes, plus the reference answer a model's attempt gets graded against
• Grading model-written code and design: whether it handles the edge cases, whether the complexity is justified, whether the test actually exercises the behaviour it claims to
• Flagging where a model's code passes review and would fail in production, given concurrency, scale, error handling, or what it costs to operate
Software engineering listings on Mercor have posted at $70 to $150 an hour, set per project by scope and depth.
What we're looking for
• Professional experience building and shipping software
• Clear written communication, since most of the work involves explaining your reasoning
• Comfort with ambiguous tasks, and willingness to flag unclear instructions
What this covers
This pool spans software engineering, including:
• Frontend (React, TypeScript, Next.js); backend (Java, Go, Node.js); full-stack
• Mobile (Android, iOS); embedded and IoT
• DevOps and platform engineering; systems and performance engineering
• QA and automation; security engineering
Where you trained matters less than whether you have owned code in production and dealt with what it did there.
How it works
Apply here with your resume and confirm where you work from, then take a short AI interview, about 20 minutes total.
We verify your background and add you to the software engineering pool.
When a project needs your stack or specialty, we invite matching people from the pool to that specific listing. It names the rate, the hours, and the client, and any hiring decision is made there.
What to expect
This listing does not accept or reject candidates, so you will not get a decision on it. We reach out when a project matches your background. Depending on what our clients are running, that can be within a week or several months.
Finishing the domain expert interview and joining every network you qualify for both improve your odds of being matched. You only need to sign up once to be eligible across all of them.
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-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 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 (this platform) | 32 | $60 to $200 · median $105 |
Sources and listing historyWhere this information comes from
This listing's history
- First seen here on 16 Sep 2026, and still on Mercor's list when we last read it on 13 Oct 2026.
- The listed pay has not changed since then.
- We saw Mercor list this same title 1 time before, the first on 19 Aug 2026. That listing had left our list before this one appeared.
- Posted by Mercor
- First seen by AIPayList
- Last seen live
- Listing ID
- list_AAABoKOP6g9ZUjU9LdNBCqS7
Pay as the source states it: “70–150 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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