Alignerr onboarding: from sign-up to your first paid project

What Alignerr is

Alignerr is Labelbox's network of subject experts. AI labs bring projects to Labelbox, and Alignerr matches contributors to them: writing training data, rating model answers, reviewing code, recording voice samples and so on, across what it says are more than 50 disciplines. You work as a contractor, remotely, with no minimum hours. Alignerr's FAQ says many contributors spend 20 to 25 hours a week.

This guide walks through getting from sign-up to paid work, using Alignerr's own pages and its help centre, checked on 30 September 2026. For the short reference record, see our Alignerr company page.

Before you start, have these ready

Alignerr's onboarding article asks you to have "your most current resume, LinkedIn profile, and phone number ready." You will also need:

• A Google account, which is how you sign in
• A valid photo ID and a phone or webcam for a live selfie
• A laptop or desktop with a working webcam, in case your job needs the Zara interview
• An hour or so for contract and billing setup once you are approved

Alignerr recommends Chrome, and says sign-up works on desktop or mobile.

The steps

Alignerr's process page lists five: sign up, apply for a job, verify your identity, set up billing, then Alignerr onboarding. In practice it runs like this.

1. Sign up and upload your resume

Sign in with Google and upload your resume. Alignerr's FAQ says the platform "auto-fills your profile in about 30 seconds". Check what it filled in. Your profile, skills and preferences drive which jobs you are matched to, and the help centre lists a complete, accurate profile as the first thing that helps you get picked. If you have skills your resume undersells, add them in the Resume tab.

Keep the file plain. Alignerr's troubleshooting article says an "Error Loading Interview" message when starting the Zara interview "usually happens due to issues with your uploaded resume file", and recommends plain text with no emojis or images, in PDF.

2. Apply for specific jobs

Alignerr removed its general Assessments tab. You now browse the jobs board and apply to the roles you want, and only some roles ask for an assessment. Voice roles ask for a voice sample. Each job shows a status: "Completed" means nothing more is needed from you, and "Applied" means steps may still be pending.

Job cards show an hourly range, such as $15–20 an hour for some roles and more for specialists. Alignerr's FAQ says "payment details will always be clearly listed in each project description before you start."

3. The Zara interview, if your job needs one

Some jobs add a Zara AI interview or a domain assessment, and Alignerr says you will be told if yours does. Its interview FAQ says the interview "is only offered if your profile meets the necessary requirements" and that "some specializations do not require an interview." You cannot request extra interviews.

Alignerr calls Zara "our AI assistant" and does not say who built it. Zara is also the name of micro1's AI interviewer, and the format looks the same, so it appears to be the same product, but neither company says so. Our guides to the Zara interview and what Zara asks describe micro1's version; treat them as a strong hint, not a description of Alignerr's.

What it asks. Alignerr says the questions "are unique and are based on each user's profile, experience and responses", so it cannot give you a list. The format depends on the field: coding interviews "can require LIVE coding exercises", while language interviews are mostly "a live conversation, based on your profile and experience." Expect follow-ups on anything your resume claims.

The rules. Alignerr's interview FAQ is strict:

• No AI tools, outside resources or outside help, including a second monitor with notes or someone helping off camera
• A laptop or desktop with a working webcam. The interview "will be marked as 'Failed', if your camera is not enabled", and Alignerr warns that a phone or tablet can cause technical issues that also end in a fail
• Stay in full-screen mode. Alignerr recommends Chrome in an incognito window, with other tabs and apps closed
• Do not talk over Zara. Alignerr says speaking at the same time as the AI "can cause technical issues or pauses during the interview, which can affect your final score"

You can ask it to skip. If Zara asks about work you cannot discuss "due to NDA limitations or personal concerns", Alignerr says you are free to ask her to skip and ask another question.

Assume one attempt. Alignerr's own articles disagree here. Its interview FAQ says you can retake "only if you have experienced any technical difficulties", by contacting support with details. Its troubleshooting article, updated in April 2026, says "retaking the interview is not currently allowed at this time" and that a retake option for technical issues is being worked on. Test your camera, microphone and connection before you start.

Results. Alignerr says "individual feedback or timelines won't be provided" and "individual interview results are not provided." If you pass, you move into onboarding automatically, with no need to contact anyone.

Human interviews. Alignerr also runs live interviews with a person, which it says "help us assess your native language proficiency and other skills." People are selected based on the experience they gave when they registered, and the invitation arrives as a calendar event with a reschedule link at the bottom.

4. Identity verification

Phone verification by text message applies only to US and Canadian numbers; with any other number you will not be asked for it. The ID check runs through Persona and needs a valid ID plus a live selfie ("a picture of a picture is not allowed").

Alignerr's pages disagree on when this happens. The process page makes it step three, while the Persona FAQ says verification "will be requested only when you are matched with a project or upon acceptance of a job application." Expect it around the time you are accepted.

The country on your ID matters more than it looks, because it decides how you get paid (step 5).

5. Contract and billing

Once approved, you get an email inviting you to accept the contract and set up billing, which Alignerr says takes about an hour. The contract sits under your onboarding checklist, or later under Settings → Documents.

For payment you connect Stripe Connect or PayPal, but you do not choose which. Alignerr's help centre says "you cannot choose a payment method", that "only one payment provider is enabled per country", and that "payment methods are based on the identity verification country." Changing it means verifying your identity again. If you were hired through Upwork, you connect nothing on Alignerr, because Upwork pays you.

6. Alignerr onboarding and Discord

The last step is an email with onboarding material and an introduction to the Labelbox platform. Labelbox's documentation says all Alignerrs must join Discord, which it calls "our official platform for project updates", and you link your account under Settings → Discord at app.alignerr.com. Some projects also use Hubstaff, a time tracker that takes periodic screenshots.

How pay works

Payment runs weekly. Alignerr's help centre says the "billing cycle runs from Monday to Sunday" and "payments are made by the following Friday". Your Earnings tab updates only after a payment is processed.

Projects are billed per hour, per task, per task per turn, or per media hour, and in per-task projects reviewers are always paid hourly. On quality, Alignerr's own pages disagree. Its payment FAQ describes pay-per-accepted-task projects in which "tasks that are completed but not accepted are not paid", while its general FAQ says "all Alignerrs are paid for completed work, even if it's graded to be low quality," except in extreme cases of fraud. Read the billing mode on each project before you start.

Alignerr's homepage advertises an "$80/hr average", "1K+ hired weekly" and "$1M paid weekly". Those are Alignerr's own figures, and an average across coders, doctors and transcribers tells you little about any single job. Use the rate on the listing.

Is evaluation work paid?

Not always. Alignerr's help article on missing rates says "a few projects in their evaluation phase are unpaid", that "sometimes, pay rates are shown only after you're selected", and advises: "Don't start working until you're sure about the pay rate." We found no Alignerr page saying the Zara interview or job assessments are paid, so treat them as unpaid.

Why accepted people wait, and what helps

Being approved does not put you on a project. The help centre says you "might be on a generalized waiting list until a project that fits your profile is initiated" and that "downtime may occasionally occur between projects."

Alignerr's FAQ says assignments are "based on your skills, assessment results, availability, and past performance on the platform". Its answer to how long assignment takes is: "It depends on current demand and your skillset. Taking more assessments and performing well increases your chances of being matched quickly." Early work on a project goes through a calibration phase, which produces a composite score for each contributor, and "higher scores improve your chances of being selected for future projects."

Everything below comes from Alignerr's own guidance:

• Keep your profile complete and your skills current
• Apply to more roles that fit you, and take the assessments they ask for
• Treat calibration work as the most important work you do, because it sets your score
• Keep quality high and rework low, and do not rush
• Watch your email and Discord, since that is where invitations arrive
• Write clearly. Alignerr calls clear written English "a must"

Alignerr's community rules forbid gaming assessments and duplicate accounts, and say it keeps logs of screen activity. Its Alignerr Connect extension can block VPN connections, so do not use a VPN.

What contributors report

These are worker reports, not Alignerr's statements. On Trustpilot, Alignerr had a score of 4.5 from 2,882 reviews when we checked on 30 September 2026, with 82 percent five-star and 9 percent one-star. Reviewers praise the Zara interview and smooth onboarding. The complaints are about slow support, removals without explanation, delayed or disputed pay, and unpaid training followed by deactivation. Glassdoor reviews, far fewer in number, are more negative and describe weeks without projects.

Checks before you hand over your ID

We found no scam warning on Alignerr's own pages. These are the official addresses we saw:

• alignerr.com and app.alignerr.com, for the site and sign-in
• Alignerr's help centre on intercom.help/alignerr, which is the same content as help.labelbox.com
• support@alignerr.com, or the chat inside the app, for support
• connect.stripe.com, for Stripe payout setup

If anyone offers Alignerr work through a chat app, asks for money, or sends you to another domain for "verification", stop. See how to spot fake AI training listings and our guide to identity verification on AI training platforms.

Sources

• Alignerr homepage, process page, FAQ, jobs board and community rules (alignerr.com), checked 30 September 2026
• Alignerr help centre (intercom.help/alignerr): onboarding, Persona verification FAQs, interview FAQs, payment FAQs, "When do I get paid", "How to set up payments", assignment, missing pay rates, contracts and Discord articles
• Alignerr help centre: "How can I troubleshoot a Zara interview after encountering technical issues?" and "Troubleshooting: Error Loading Interview", checked 1 October 2026
• Labelbox documentation on Discord and the Alignerr Connect extension (docs.labelbox.com)
• Alignerr's Trustpilot page, checked 30 September 2026, and Glassdoor, for contributor reports

Last checked 30 September 2026; the interview section was rechecked on 1 October 2026. We are not affiliated with Alignerr, Labelbox or micro1, and we do not process applications.