Security Engineer: Cryptanalysis / Reverse Engineering

What you'll do

AfterQuery is assembling a research cohort of senior security experts, spanning cryptanalysis and reverse engineering, to evaluate how frontier AI models handle hard, real-world expert problems. The ad is explicit that this is research and evaluation work, not production engineering: you define what "correct" and "excellent" look like on problems you already know deeply.

Concretely:

• Design realistic technical scenarios and problem sets within your track
• Author expert-level reference solutions and grading rubrics
• Evaluate AI-generated outputs for correctness, depth and domain judgment

Who fits

The stated bar:

• Domain: security
• 6 to 10 years of experience
• A bachelor's degree (a master's is preferred)
• Currently or recently active in the field, hands-on rather than purely academic-adjacent
• Strong written communication, since you will be authoring technical explanations and structured feedback
• Comfortable with independent, asynchronous, remote work

Preferred: a research publication record, open-source contributions or other recognised work in your domain; experience reviewing or grading others' technical work (peer review, code review, editing); and, as the track-specific signal, reverse engineering, cryptanalysis or CTF experience.

The ad warns that candidates who meet fewer than 70% of the stated qualifications may be flagged for misrepresenting their professional experience, which could affect eligibility for future project staffing. It also says AfterQuery conducts thorough background checks and prioritises candidates who meet the requirements and provide the requested materials.

What it pays

The ad states $100 to $170/hr based on experience. The board headlines $135/hr, inside that range. The ad does not publish payment terms such as payout method, schedule or minimum hours; AfterQuery's general payout arrangements are on the company page.

Worth knowing

Good:

• A wide stated hourly range, set by experience
• Work that rewards depth in a narrow specialty, not generic annotation
• Fully remote and asynchronous, designed to fit around existing work

Less good:

• A high experience bar (6 to 10 years) plus a degree, and background checks
• A hard warning about overstating qualifications, so apply only if you genuinely match
• No hours, volume or payment terms are stated in the ad
• Hiring steps are not described in the ad. AfterQuery's help centre describes an unpaid, one-attempt assessment and ID verification for its expert pools; see the company page

About this listing

Posted on the AfterQuery Experts board on 4 August 2026 and read there on 18 October 2026. Duties, requirements and the pay range are AfterQuery's own text; the commentary is ours. See AfterQuery.