Freelance - Construction & Heavy Equipment SME

Innodata Inc.; Philippines; On-site; PHP 400,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Innodata Inc. is seeking a Construction & Heavy Equipment SME to support an AI video annotation project involving construction sites, heavy machinery, and equipment operations.

You will review footage, translate field activities into clear task categories and label definitions, and support onboarding and calibration with the annotation and QA teams. The role requires practical industry knowledge to identify equipment and operating states and to explain terminology to non-industry annotators.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of hands-on construction or heavy-equipment experience.
• Ability to identify equipment, activities, and operating states on-site.
• Strong written and verbal English communication.
• Capable of learning annotation tools and online review platforms.

Responsibilities

• Review video footage to identify equipment, activities, operator actions, and operating states.
• Break down work sequences into observable annotation tasks and categories.
• Define label definitions, inclusion/exclusion rules, and task taxonomy.
• Support onboarding, training, calibration, and alignment sessions for the team.
• Escalate unclear or difficult cases and seek client clarification when needed.
• Maintain confidentiality and adhere to data-security requirements.

Skills

Visual observation

Analytical judgment

Attention to detail

Consistency

English communication

Job description

We are looking for a Construction & Heavy Equipment Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support an AI video annotation project involving construction sites, heavy machinery, and equipment operations. The SME will review video footage and use practical industry knowledge to identify, interpret, and define the construction and heavy-equipment activities shown. The role will support the annotation and quality teams by translating field activities into clear task categories, label definitions, and operational guidance.

Key Responsibilities

• Review construction and heavy-equipment video footage and identify the equipment, activities, operator actions, operating states, and worker-equipment interactions shown.
• Recognize machinery, attachments, tools, materials, and common construction-site workflows.
• Break down complex work sequences into clear and distinguishable activities suitable for video annotation.
• Determine where an activity begins and ends when temporal or timestamp annotation is required.
• Help define and refine activity categories, label definitions, inclusion and exclusion rules, and task taxonomy.
• Explain construction and equipment terminology in clear language that non-industry annotators can understand.
• Provide examples of correct classifications, incorrect classifications, edge cases, and situations requiring escalation.
• Review unclear, unusual, obstructed, or difficult video cases escalated by the annotation and QA teams.
• Validate that annotation guidelines accurately reflect real-world construction and equipment operations.
• Support project onboarding, annotator training, calibration, and periodic alignment sessions.
• Help resolve disagreements involving domain interpretation and identify questions requiring client clarification.
• Work with Project Management, Operations, and QA teams while following confidentiality and data-security requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of relevant hands-on or directly related experience in construction, heavy-equipment operations, mining, quarrying, material handling, equipment maintenance, site supervision, or a closely related field.
• Strong familiarity with construction-site activities, equipment workflows, and common operating states.
• Ability to recognize common heavy equipment and understand its typical functions and operating activities.
• Ability to distinguish similar equipment actions and separate a larger work sequence into observable tasks.
• Strong visual observation, analytical judgment, attention to detail, and consistency.
• Ability to explain technical or operational activities clearly to people without a construction background.
• Comfortable reviewing repetitive video footage and documenting decisions based on visible evidence.
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Basic computer proficiency and ability to learn online video-review and annotation tools

Preferred Experience and Domain Knowledge

Candidates with experience in any of the following roles are encouraged to apply: Heavy Equipment Operator; Construction Foreman or Site Supervisor; Equipment Trainer; Equipment Technician or Mechanic; Construction Safety Officer; Civil or Construction Technician; Mining or Quarry Operations Personnel; Fleet Supervisor or Coordinator; or Construction Operations Specialist. Familiarity with several of the following is preferred: excavators, backhoes, bulldozers, wheel loaders, skid-steer loaders, graders, cranes, forklifts, telehandlers, dump trucks, compactors, pavers, concrete equipment, drilling equipment, earthmoving machinery, and other construction or material-handling equipment.