Civil / Survey Engineer: Vulcan

What you'll do

Project Vulcan is building a large set of evaluation tasks for the construction and property sector. Each task starts from real documents (drawings, maps, aerials, site files) and asks for the deliverable you would produce at work. You write the task and its correct answer; a second reviewer from your discipline checks it before it ships.

The task list is long and very specific to US site, civil and survey practice. Examples from the ad:

• Plan review: civil grading, erosion and sediment control, stormwater, roadway plan check, work-zone and traffic control, utility service drawings, floodplain permits, civil RFI responses, landscape ordinance and tree protection
• Quantities: earthwork verification and stockpile volume certification
• Survey: ALTA Table A items, title survey exception review, closing survey setbacks, elevation certificate photo checks
• Maps and records: topographic map review, map stack reading, dating historic aerials and Sanborn maps, assessor sketch verification

Who fits

• You currently hold, or recently held, a seat that produces or reviews site, civil or survey work: civil engineer, land development engineer, land surveyor, or geospatial or Phase I environmental analyst
• A PE in civil engineering, or a PLS for the survey and mapping tasks
• 3+ years in that seat (8+ preferred), working to US standards and state DOT or local land development practice
• Comfortable moving between drawing sets, aerials, topo maps and parcel data
• US-based

The ad is unusually honest about what separates a strong candidate: knowing which quantity, contour or exception a reviewer normally takes on faith. Agency or DOT submittal review, mentoring EITs or survey crews, carrying projects through resubmittal cycles and working across several jurisdictions all count in your favour.

It is equally clear about who is not a fit: GIS analysts who have not reviewed engineered drawings, drone pilots without survey credentials, environmental scientists whose work is sampling rather than plan review, and CAD technicians without design or review responsibility.

What it pays

$45–60 per hour depending on experience, with a stated path to a higher rate as the project scales. Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise. That is below the $70–80 Civil Engineering Expert listing, which asks for 5+ years and ownership of large infrastructure work; this one starts at 3 years in the seat.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Tasks mirror your actual daily deliverables, so there is little to learn
• Peer review by someone in your discipline before tasks ship
• A stated route to a higher rate
• Recently-held seats count, useful if you have moved into management or retired

Less good:

• Lower rate than the general civil expert listing
• The ad asks for a PE or PLS; it does not say how analysts without either are treated, so check if that is you
• US only
• No hours or duration published
• H-1B and STEM OPT holders are excluded

About this listing

Posted by Mercor as a remote hourly contract for US-based professionals, read on 24 September 2026. Mercor's original title uses a dash; we have replaced it with a colon. Pay, requirements and payment terms are the ad's own. See Mercor.