Software Engineer, Applied AI

About Mercor

Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We partner with leading AI labs and enterprises to provide the human intelligence essential to AI development. Our vast talent network trains frontier AI models in the same way teachers teach students: by sharing knowledge, experience, and context that can't be captured in code alone. Today, more than 30,000 experts in our network collectively earn over $3 million a day.

Mercor is creating a new category of work where expertise powers AI advancement. Achieving this requires an ambitious, fast-paced and deeply committed team. You’ll work alongside researchers, operators, and AI companies at the forefront of shaping the systems that are redefining society. Mercor is a profitable Series C company valued at $10 billion. We work in-person five days a week in our San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.

About the Role

As a Software Engineer on Applied AI, you’ll build, deploy, and operate systems that sit directly between frontier AI research and data delivery.

This is a high-ownership, deeply technical role. You’ll work through ill-defined problems, prototype quickly with researchers and customers, and take systems from early experiments to reliable, scalable production. You’ll own projects end-to-end: spanning requirements gathering, creating data creation pipelines, and improving model-adjacent infrastructure, while partnering closely with frontier AI labs and Mercor’s internal teams to ship high-impact applied AI solutions.

What You’ll Do

Partner closely with frontier AI labs to understand their data, post-training, and evaluation needs

Build and operate scalable data pipelines for post-training workflows and model evaluations

Design and build scalable systems for synthetic data generation and data quality, and work directly with customers to understand requirements and develop technical solutions

Prototype new data types, benchmarks, and evaluation frameworks

Lead technical discussions with customers

What Makes This Role Different

Direct frontier exposure. You’ll work closely with researchers at leading AI labs, building infrastructure that directly accelerates cutting-edge research.

Coding + customer work. This role blends deep technical execution with customer interaction. Engineers who enjoy both building and communicating tend to thrive.

Day-to-Day

Fast-moving, high-ownership environment

Technically demanding, collaborative work

“Building the plane while flying it”

In-person culture (SF, 181 Fremont)

Aligned with frontier research timelines

What We’re Looking For

Strong backend engineering fundamentals in a modern language (Python, Go, Rust, etc.)

Experience with model training and inference

Strong grounding in statistical analysis and experimental design for measuring model performance and improvements

Familiarity with evaluation methods for large language models

Comfort working through ambiguity and shipping iteratively

You’re likely someone who

Enjoys ownership and customer-facing problem solving

Thinks entrepreneurially and moves quickly

Balances speed with engineering rigor

Communicates clearly with technical and non-technical users

Why Engineers Join

Direct exposure to frontier AI research

Real ownership and visible impact

Technical depth paired with human interaction

Fast feedback loops and high leverage

There are very few roles that combine this level of technical rigor, customer proximity, and research exposure.

Benefits

Bi-annual performance bonus structure

Generous equity grant vested over 4 years

Up to $15k Relocation bonus

$10K proximity bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office)

$1.5K monthly stipend for meals

Free Equinox membership

$200 monthly laundry reimbursement

$200 monthly personal wellness reimbursement

Health, Dental, Vision insurance