About Mercor
Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We're a leading AI data company, building the layer between human expertise and frontier models. Millions of domain experts on the platform are paid over $4 million per day to train frontier AI models. Mercor's APEX benchmark family measures AI's real-world impact on professional work. Mercor Enterprise brings this same infrastructure to Fortune 500 companies: helping companies capture how their best people actually work, translating that expertise directly back into agents.
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 San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.
About the Role
As a Software Engineer on Applied AI, you’ll build, deploy, and operate systems that sit directly between frontier AI research and data delivery.
This is a high-ownership, deeply technical role. You’ll work through ill-defined problems, prototype quickly with researchers and customers, and take systems from early experiments to reliable, scalable production. You’ll own projects end-to-end: spanning requirements gathering, creating data creation pipelines, and improving model-adjacent infrastructure, while partnering closely with frontier AI labs and Mercor’s internal teams to ship high-impact applied AI solutions.
What You’ll Do
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Partner closely with frontier AI labs to understand their data, post-training, and evaluation needs
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Build and operate scalable data pipelines for post-training workflows and model evaluations
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Design and build scalable systems for synthetic data generation and data quality, and work directly with customers to understand requirements and develop technical solutions
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Prototype new data types, benchmarks, and evaluation frameworks
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Lead technical discussions with customers
What Makes This Role Different
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Direct frontier exposure. You’ll work closely with researchers at leading AI labs, building infrastructure that directly accelerates cutting-edge research.
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Coding + customer work. This role blends deep technical execution with customer interaction. Engineers who enjoy both building and communicating tend to thrive.
Day-to-Day
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Fast-moving, high-ownership environment
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Technically demanding, collaborative work
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“Building the plane while flying it”
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In-person culture at our new New York office at One World Trade Center
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Aligned with frontier research timelines
What We’re Looking For
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Strong backend engineering fundamentals in a modern language (Python, Go, Rust, etc.)
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Experience with model training and inference
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Strong grounding in statistical analysis and experimental design for measuring model performance and improvements
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Familiarity with evaluation methods for large language models
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Comfort working through ambiguity and shipping iteratively
You’re likely someone who
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Enjoys ownership and customer-facing problem solving
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Thinks entrepreneurially and moves quickly
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Balances speed with engineering rigor
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Communicates clearly with technical and non-technical users
Why Engineers Join
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Direct exposure to frontier AI research
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Real ownership and visible impact
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Technical depth paired with human interaction
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Fast feedback loops and high leverage
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There are very few roles that combine this level of technical rigor, customer proximity, and research exposure.
Benefits
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Bi-annual performance bonus structure
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Generous equity grant vested over 4 years
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Up to $15k Relocation bonus
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$10K proximity bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office)
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$1.5K monthly stipend for meals
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Free Equinox membership
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$200 monthly laundry reimbursement
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$200 monthly personal wellness reimbursement
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Health, Dental, Vision insurance