Engineering & Software Domain Expert at Mercor
MO
$135,200–$218,400
Aug 18, 2026
MO
Aug 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior software/engineering domain expert embedded with a leading AI lab's GenAI research team, responsible for evaluating the quality of AI model outputs on real engineering tasks, writing instruction specs and golden-solution datasets, and designing benchmarks that measure genuine model improvement. The role suits a practicing specialist — not a generalist — with deep experience in at least one engineering subdomain such as distributed systems, security, ML systems, or platform engineering. The position is a W-2 engagement through Cincinnatus LLC, hybrid on-site in the Bay Area.
Senior level · 4+ years · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $217,796 (middle half $177,469–$231,052).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 20, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
This role is atypical: it is not a standard software development position but rather an AI training/evaluation role where deep engineering expertise is the primary input. The closest SOC is 15-1252 (Software Developers) because the work requires production-level software engineering judgment; 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is a reasonable alternative given the novel nature of the work.
No specific named technologies are hard-gated. The posting lists several engineering subdomains (distributed systems, security/cryptography, embedded/firmware, ML systems, developer tooling, platform engineering, test engineering) as illustrative examples of acceptable specializations — none is required individually, so all are marked preferred.
AI/LLM fluency is listed under 'Preferred' in the qualifications section and is marked accordingly.
The posting describes a 6-month initial engagement at 40 hours/week via W-2 through Cincinnatus LLC; this is classified as FullTime based on the 40 hrs/week commitment and W-2 framing, though the fixed 6-month term has contract-like characteristics.
The Bay Area location is stated broadly; the CBSA used (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara) covers the core Bay Area tech corridor, though the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley CBSA (41860) is equally plausible — the posting does not specify a city.
An MS or PhD is 'strongly preferred' but the hard minimum stated is a Bachelor's degree, so the degree requirement is set to Bachelors.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): platform engineering, test engineering.
Read the full posting
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