[Contract] Software Engineer (Trajectory)

[Contract] Software Engineer (Trajectory)

Mercor

Remote

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).

Contract and Payment Terms

• You will be engaged as an independent contractor;
• This is a fully remote role that can be completed on your own schedule;
• Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance;
• Your work at Mercor will not involve access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution;
• Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise based on services rendered;
• Please note: We are unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time.