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Mercor
Mercor

Software Engineer, Backend

RoleBackend
LevelMid Level
LocationSan Francisco, Canada, United States
WorkOn-site
TypeFull-time
Posted2 months ago
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Required skills

Python

SQL

AWS

Go

Rust

GCP

ABOUT MERCOR

Mercor is at the intersection of labor markets and AI research. We partner with leading AI labs and enterprises to provide the human intelligence essential to AI development.

Our vast talent network trains frontier AI models in the same way teachers teach students: by sharing knowledge, experience, and context that can't be captured in code alone. Today, more than 30,000 experts in our network collectively earn over $2 million a day.

Mercor is creating a new category of work where expertise powers AI advancement. Achieving this requires an ambitious, fast-paced and deeply committed team. You’ll work alongside researchers, operators, and AI companies at the forefront of shaping the systems that are redefining society.

Mercor is a profitable Series C company valued at $10 billion. We work in-person five days a week in our new San Francisco headquarters.

About the Role:

As a Software Engineer at Mercor, you’ll join a small, product-driven engineering team building modern backend systems that power critical workflows for some of the most advanced AI companies in the world. You’ll own projects end-to-end, designing, building, and shipping production systems that directly impact customers. From day one you’ll write production-grade code, reason about systems holistically, and make decisions that tie directly to business outcomes. You’ll work closely with product and design, moving fast while upholding a high bar for code quality, scalability, and simplicity.

At the end of the process, you’ll be team-matched to where you can have the most impact, on one of the following:

  • Talent platform side – building next-generation tools that automate recruiting end-to-end, intelligently match candidates to roles, and power global hiring with seamless contracts and payments.

  • Applied AI/human data side – partnering with top AI researchers from the AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to create post training datasets to improve foundational model capabilities.

What You’ll Do:

  • Design and build scalable backend APIs, services, and infrastructure.

  • Collaborate across the stack with product and design to ship features quickly.

  • Write clean, maintainable code and contribute to documentation.

  • Participate in code reviews, technical design discussions, and retros.

  • Solve real-world customer problems under real-world constraints.

  • Contribute to core systems that power training, evaluation, and scaling for leading AI labs.

What We’re Looking For:

  • Strong coding fundamentals in at least one modern language (Python, Go, Rust, etc.).

  • Understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.

  • Familiarity with APIs, SQL/NoSQL databases, and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP).

  • Bias toward ownership, curiosity, and asking the right questions.

  • Ability to break down ambiguity and ship simple solutions to complex problems.

Why Mercor

  • Impact: Your work powers how the world’s leading AI labs train and test their models.

  • Learning: Get early insights into frontier model capabilities months before the market.

  • Growth: Work on both infrastructure and research-adjacent projects with fast paths to ownership.

Benefits:

  • Generous equity grant vested over 4 years

  • A $20K relocation bonus (if moving to the Bay Area)

  • A $10K housing bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office)

  • A $1K monthly stipend for meals

  • Free Equinox membership

  • Health insurance

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About Mercor

Mercor

Mercor

Seed

Mercor is an AI-powered platform that connects companies with vetted software engineers and technical talent through automated screening and matching processes.

1-50

Employees

San Francisco

Headquarters

Reviews

10 reviews

4.0

10 reviews

Work-life balance

3.2

Compensation

3.8

Culture

4.3

Career

3.5

Management

4.2

72%

Recommend to a friend

Pros

Supportive and approachable management

Great team culture and collaborative environment

Good benefits and flexible work options

Cons

Heavy workload and frequent overtime

Communication issues and miscommunication

Non-competitive pay and limited career progression

Salary Ranges

6 data points

Mid/L4

Mid/L4 · Machine Learning Engineer

1 reports

$210,126

total per year

Base

$161,637

Stock

-

Bonus

-

$210,126

$210,126

Interview experience

3 interviews

Difficulty

3.0

/ 5

Offer rate

67%

Experience

Positive 0%

Neutral 67%

Negative 33%

Interview process

1

Application Review

2

AI Interview Screen

3

Technical Assessment

4

Final Review

5

Offer

Common questions

Domain Expertise

Behavioral/STAR

Industry Knowledge

Leadership Experience

Problem Solving