Staff Software Engineer (AI Evals)

STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER (AI EVALS) Contract | $100–$200/hour | 20-40 hrs/week | Start ASAP We’re looking for highly experienced software engineer to help evaluate the quality of interactions with modern coding agents such as OpenAI Codex and Claude Code. This is not a traditional engineering role. You won’t be writing production code. You’ll be evaluating something harder: whether the model thinks like a great engineer. WHAT THIS ROLE ACTUALLY IS You will assess how AI coding agents behave in real-world scenarios — focusing on: • Whether the response makes sense • Whether the preamble and reasoning are useful • Whether the output reflects strong engineering judgment • Whether the interaction feels right to an experienced developer This role is about engineering taste — not syntax correctness. WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING • Evaluate AI-generated coding interactions end-to-end • Judge whether outputs are: • Useful • Correct (at a high level) • Aligned with how a strong engineer would think • Assess the quality of explanations and reasoning, not just code • Distinguish between different levels of response quality (e.g. what makes something a 2 vs 4) • Provide clear, opinionated feedback on: • What worked • What didn’t • What felt “off” or misleading • Help define what great looks like when interacting with tools like Cursor WHAT WE MEAN BY “TASTE” We’re specifically looking for engineers who can answer questions like: • Does this feel like something a strong engineer would actually say? • Is this explanation helpful, or just technically correct? • Is the model guiding the user well, or just dumping output? • Would this interaction build or erode trust? You should be comfortable making subjective but rigorous judgments. WHO YOU ARE • Staff / Principal-level engineer (or equivalent experience) • Strong background in one of the below: • Go • Python • Rust • TypeScript / JavaScript • Hands-on experience using: • OpenAI Codex • Claude Code • Cursor • Deep familiarity with modern AI-assisted dev workflows • Able to evaluate code without needing to fully execute or deeply review every line • Comfortable giving direct, opinionated feedback • High bar for what “good engineering” looks like NICE TO HAVE • Experience with tools like Cursor or similar AI-first IDEs • Prior exposure to prompt design or evaluation workflows • Experience mentoring senior engineers or defining engineering standards ENGAGEMENT DETAILS • Rate: $100–$200/hour • Hours: ~20 hours+ • Duration: Through October w/possible extentions • Start: ASAP • Process: • Take-home evaluation exercise • Background Check • Offer