Expert Senior SWE

What you'll do

The ad is short on specifics: you work on "a highly challenging project" for a leading foundation-model AI lab, with the aim of improving model capability on complex software engineering tasks. In practice, projects framed this way usually mean writing hard coding problems, reviewing or correcting model-generated code, and judging whether a model's solution would pass a senior review. The ad does not spell out which of those this one involves, so ask at the interview.

What it does say:

• Around 20 hours per week
• Expected to last 2–3 weeks, with promotion opportunities inside the project
• Good work raises your odds of selection for later Mercor projects

Who fits

• 10+ years of experience at top US tech firms
• A real interest in pushing model performance on hard SWE work
• Based in the US or Europe, per the ad's opening line (no formal location requirement section is published, so treat this as the target pool rather than a stated hard rule)

This is the highest experience bar of any software listing Mercor posted alongside it. The Software Engineer Expert listing pays $100–150/hour, which is worth comparing if you are short of ten years.

What it pays

$150–210 per hour, depending on geography and experience level. The vetting exercise is paid separately: $100 for completing the asynchronous SWE exercise and instructions quiz. Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise.

How vetting works

1. A 30-minute AI interview
2. An asynchronous SWE exercise plus a project-instructions quiz, about 2 hours in total, paid $100 on completion

Paying for the take-home is a good signal; most platforms do not.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Top-of-market hourly rate for contract SWE evaluation work
• Paid vetting exercise
• Fixed, modest time commitment
• Promotion opportunities within the project

Less good:

• 2–3 weeks is short; at 20 hours a week the total engagement is small
• 10+ years at top US firms rules out most applicants
• The $60 spread depends on geography and experience, and the ad does not say how either is weighted
• The task type is not described
• H-1B and STEM OPT holders are excluded

About this listing

Posted by Mercor as a remote hourly contract, read on 24 September 2026, with 50 hires this month. Pay, hours, duration, vetting steps and payment terms are the ad's own. See Mercor.