**Mercor is hiring experienced Software Engineers** to support high-impact research collaborations with leading AI labs. Freelancers will contribute to building training datasets that improve AI model reasoning and problem-solving on real-world coding tasks.
This is a unique opportunity to apply your software engineering expertise toward shaping the next generation of intelligent systems.
### About the Project
You'll annotate frontier-model trajectories on **SWE-bench–style tasks** derived from real open-source repositories. Currently, closed-source models do not expose their internal reasoning traces, making it difficult to understand how LLMs approach problem-solving.
To address this gap, you'll **reconstruct and annotate the reasoning portions** of model trajectories—using your own problem-solving process and the full task context to infer and infill the underlying thought process at each step.
### Key Responsibilities
- Review model-generated code trajectories on realistic software engineering tasks
- Reconstruct chain-of-thought reasoning that explains each step of the solution process
- Annotate decision points, debugging logic, and problem-solving strategies
- Use full task context (codebase, issue descriptions, test cases) to infer plausible reasoning
- Ensure annotations reflect realistic developer thought processes and technical accuracy
### Ideal Qualifications
- 2+ years of experience in software engineering, with hands-on debugging and problem-solving in real codebases
- Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field (Bachelor's minimum; advanced degree preferred)
- Strong proficiency in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or other common languages found in open-source projects
- Familiarity with version control workflows (Git, PRs, issue tracking)
- Comfortable articulating technical reasoning in clear, structured writing
### Project Timeline
- **Start Date:** Immediate
- **Duration:** 1–2 months
- **Commitment:** Part-time (15–25 hours/week, with flexibility up to 40 hours/week)
### Application & Onboarding Process
1. Upload your resume
2. AI interview: A short, 15-minute conversational session to understand your background, experience, and interest in the role
3. Follow-up communication within a few days with next steps and onboarding details
**Apply today** and leverage your software engineering expertise to help build the future of AI-driven systems!
hackajob is partnering with Mercor to fill this position. Create a profile to be automatically considered for this role—and others that match your experience.
