Staff Software Engineer (AI Evals)

Job description

## 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