Open Source Maintainer - AI/ML

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

Position: Open Source Maintainer / Core Contributor – Software Engineer
Type: Contract
Compensation: $150/hour
Location: Remote
Commitment: 40 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps and improve AI model performance in software engineering, code review, and open-source maintenance topics.
• Design challenging, realistic engineering tasks grounded in the open-source codebase, such as features, refactors, and bug fixes a maintainer would assign, and write accurate, well-structured reference solutions.
• Evaluate AI-written code, tests, and grading rubrics against the repository's architecture, conventions, and quality bar, providing clear, written technical feedback.
• Build, run, and test the project locally, including with Docker, to confirm that tasks, solutions, and tests behave as intended.
• Write precise rationales that explain what a strong solution looks like and where AI-generated changes fall short.
• Collaborate with other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• Maintainer (named in MAINTAINERS or CODEOWNERS, or 10+ PR reviews in the last 12 months) or core contributor (3+ substantive merged PRs in the last 12 months) of a widely used open-source project.
• The repository is 2+ years old, has real users, and an active code review culture, and is primarily human-written.
• Years of sustained open-source contributions, with a public history that can be verified against the candidate's own GitHub account.
• Senior-level code review judgment, including the ability to critically assess AI-written code, tests, and edge cases.
• Hands-on ability to build and run the project and its test suite locally, including with Docker.
• Ability to engage reliably for 40 hours/week during weekdays on an exclusive basis.
• Able to complete any necessary background checks and confidentiality agreements before starting, and to work on a company-provided device to protect the security of information.
• Writes all rationales and feedback personally, in their own words.
• Strong written communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical decisions clearly.

Compensation & Legal

• W-2 employment with Cincinnatus LLC.
• Equal Employment Opportunity: We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete)

• Upload resume
• AI interview based on your resume
• Submit form

Resources & Support

• For details about the interview process and platform information, please check: https://talent.docs.mercor.com/welcome
• For any help or support, reach out to: support@mercor.com

PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity.