Engineering AI training jobs: tasks, pay and who qualifies

What engineering AI training work involves

Engineering AI training jobs pay working engineers to produce and check the technical work AI systems are learning to do: CAD models, hardware designs, inspection calls and safety judgements. On 29 September 2026 this site listed 98 roles under Engineering, out of 699 listings in total. Software roles sit in a different filter and have their own guide.

The listings split by discipline.

Mechanical and CAD (25 listings). micro1's CAD family, such as Senior FreeCAD Engineer, has you build parametric models and assemblies to a spec, apply GD&T and design for manufacture, and produce drawing packages clean enough for engineering review. SolidWorks, Fusion 360 and CAM variants follow the same pattern.

Electrical and hardware (14). Mercor's Electrical and Hardware Engineering Experts listing reviews designs, test results and troubleshooting approaches produced for real hardware problems, looking for errors, missing assumptions and design risks.

Inspection and manufacturing (10 manufacturing listings). micro1's NDT inspector listing asks you to read radiographs and ultrasonic scans and give an accept or reject call against ASME and API codes, with a written reason.

Nuclear red-teaming (12). Mercor's nuclear panel pays fuel-cycle, safeguards and radiation-safety specialists to write prompts and judge whether a model answers routine engineering questions while holding back on proliferation-relevant ones.

Robotics data (18). Mostly entry level: micro1 hires people to repeat manipulation tasks with a handheld gripper in a San Francisco lab, or to annotate robot footage.

What it pays

85 of the 98 quote an hourly rate, from $6 to $175, with a median midpoint of $75. Discipline decides most of the spread. Manufacturing and inspection roles have a median midpoint around $92, electrical and hardware around $86, materials science $84, mechanical $70 and civil and construction about $52. Robotics data work sits far below at a median of $15, with the robotics data trainer listing at $10–30.

The 12 nuclear listings pay $65–75 per task rather than per hour. One micro1 robotics research post is a salaried job at $200,000–320,000 a year.

Who qualifies

Years in the seat, and the tool, matter more than degrees. CAD software is named in 40 of the 98 listings, and the CAD roles typically ask for two or more years of parametric modelling with complete drawing packages to show for it. Hardware roles want five or more years, including recent hands-on bring-up or test work. The NDT role requires active ASNT or ISO 9712 Level II or III certification. A PhD appears in only 17 listings.

Many micro1 engineering listings, including the FreeCAD, SolidWorks and NDT roles, state that no AI background is needed. micro1 posts 58 of these roles and Mercor 40; 80 are open worldwide.

Where to start

Filter the engineering listings by discipline, then look at the tool named in each title. If your background is in physics or chemistry research rather than engineering practice, our STEM guide covers those roles.