Core Contributor - Fully Remote | Up to $150/hr

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark , General Catalyst , Peter Thiel , Adam D'Angelo , Larry Summers , and Jack Dorsey .

Position: Open Source Maintainer / Core Contributor – Software Engineer

Type: Contract

Compensation: $150/hour

Location: Remote

Commitment: 40 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps and improve AI model performance in software engineering, code review, and open-source maintenance topics.
• Design challenging, realistic engineering tasks grounded in the open-source codebase, such as features, refactors, and bug fixes a maintainer would assign, and write accurate, well-structured reference solutions.
• Evaluate AI-written code , tests, and grading rubrics against the repository's architecture, conventions, and quality bar, providing clear, written technical feedback.
• Build, run, and test the project locally, including with Docker , to confirm that tasks, solutions, and tests behave as intended.
• Write precise rationales that explain what a strong solution looks like and where AI-generated changes fall short.
• Collaborate with other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• Maintainer (named in MAINTAINERS or CODEOWNERS, or 10+ PR reviews in the last 12 months) or core contributor (3+ substantive merged PRs in the last 12 months) of a widely used open-source project.
• The repository is 2+ years old, has real users, and an active code review culture, and is primarily human-written.
• Years of sustained open-source contributions, with a public history that can be verified against the candidate's own GitHub account.
• Senior-level code review judgment, including the ability to critically assess AI-written code , tests, and edge cases.
• Hands-on ability to build and run the project and its test suite locally, including with Docker .
• Ability to engage reliably for 40 hours/week during weekdays on an exclusive basis.
• Able to complete any necessary background checks and confidentiality agreements before starting, and to work on a company-provided device to protect the security of information.
• Writes all rationales and feedback personally, in their own words.
• Strong written communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical decisions clearly.

Compensation & Legal

• W-2 employment with Cincinnatus LLC.
• Equal Employment Opportunity : We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete)

• Upload resume
• AI interview based on your resume
• Submit form

Resources & Support

• For details about the interview process and platform information, please check:
• For any help or support, reach out to: Show email

PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity.