AI / ML Engineer - AI Trainer

AfterQuery; Irvine (CA); Remote; USD 138,000 - 234,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote

Flexible schedule

Competitive pay

Job summary

AfterQuery is a research lab exploring AI frontiers through novel datasets and experimentation. We are building a cohort of senior ML researchers focused on inference and GPU kernel engineering to define criteria for correctness and excellence on real-world problems.

This fully remote, contract role invites experts to design scenarios, author reference solutions, and evaluate AI outputs across cutting-edge deployment challenges, with flexible hours and competitive pay.

Qualifications

• Currently or recently active in the field — hands-on, not purely academic-adjacent
• Strong written communication — you'll be authoring technical explanations and structured feedback
• Comfortable with independent, asynchronous, remote work
• Meets the experience and education bar described in Full Description

Responsibilities

• Design realistic technical scenarios and problem sets within your track
• Author expert-level reference solutions and grading rubrics
• Evaluate AI-generated outputs for correctness, depth, and domain judgment

Skills

Hands-on ML research

Strong written communication

Independent remote work

Education

PhD/Doctorate

Master's with strong research record

Tools

TensorRT-LLM

SGLang

vLLM

Mamba/Mamba2

GPU kernel work

Job description

ML Research Engineer — Inference & GPU Kernels

Remote

Contract

$135/hr

What you'll need 1 step

• 1 Resume

Job Description

We're building a research cohort of senior domain experts in ML inference and GPU kernel engineering — spanning inference serving systems, kernel optimization, and large-model deployment infrastructure — to help evaluate how frontier AI models reason about hard, real-world expert-level problems. This is research-and-evaluation work, not production engineering: you'll be defining what "correct" and "excellent" look like on problems you already know deeply.

• Experience: 6–10 years
• Education: PhD/Doctorate, or Master's with a strong research record

Candidates who meet the requirements and provide the requested materials will be prioritized for review. As part of this process, we conduct thorough background checks.

Why Apply

• Work directly on frontier AI research problems in your area of deep expertise
• Fully remote, flexible, asynchronous — fits around existing work
• Competitive hourly compensation ($100–$170/hr, based on experience)

Responsibilities

• Design realistic technical scenarios and problem sets within your track
• Author expert-level reference solutions and grading rubrics
• Evaluate AI-generated outputs for correctness, depth, and domain judgment

Required Qualifications

• Currently or recently active in the field — hands-on, not purely academic-adjacent
• Strong written communication — you'll be authoring technical explanations and structured feedback, not just doing the work itself
• Comfortable with independent, asynchronous, remote work
• Meets the experience and education bar described in Full Description

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior research publication record, open-source contributions, or recognized work product in your track's domain
• Experience evaluating, reviewing, or grading others' technical work (peer review, code review, grading, editing)
• Track-specific bonus signal ML: SGLang, vLLM, Mamba/Mamba2, TensorRT-LLM, or GPU kernel work

About AfterQuery

AfterQuery is a research lab investigating the boundaries of artificial intelligence through novel datasets and experimentation. We believe great AI comes from exceptional, human-generated data.

We're backed by top investors, including Y Combinator and Box Group, and support all leading AI labs.