Principal Engineer / Professor — Technical Expert

Zekai; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 255,000; Part time

Job summary

Zekai is seeking a Principal Engineer / Professor — Technical Expert for a 100% remote contractor role. You will design challenging technical problems from your domain, provide correct solutions with reasoning, and define objective criteria for grading.

The role spans aerospace, semiconductors, manufacturing and materials science, with flexible commitment that fits alongside your current duties. Ideal candidates hold a Master’s or PhD and have principal-level or faculty-level experience, capable

Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in engineering, physics, materials, or a closely related field.
• Principal, staff, or fellow-level experience at a major engineering organization, a national lab, or a faculty appointment at a leading university.
• Deep technical depth in at least one area, with hands-on ownership of the work.
• Able to explain why an answer is correct clearly enough that another expert could verify it.
• Publications, patents, or a record of technical leadership is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Design difficult technical problems from your own area, with realistic constraints and supporting data.
• Provide the correct solution and walk through the reasoning that gets there.
• Define objective criteria for correctness, so another expert reviewing the work would reach the same verdict.
• Review problems built by other contributors for technical accuracy and soundness of method.
• Flag problems that turn out to be ambiguous or ungradable rather than submitting them.

Skills

Problem design

Technical leadership

Education

Master’s or PhD in engineering/physical science

Job description

Role Title: Principal Engineer / Professor — Technical Expert

Role Type: Contractor

Location: Remote

Opportunity Snapshot

Pay: $80- $185/hour

Commitment: Flexible — fits alongside your current role

Location: Fully remote

You’ll need: Master’s or PhD in an engineering or physical science field, plus principal-level industry experience or a faculty appointment

Your tasks: Build challenging technical problems from your own domain and define what makes an answer correct

our partner is engaging principal-level engineers, scientists, and faculty to design the technical problems that measure what AI systems can actually do. Your domain expertise is what matters here — no prior AI experience required.

We’re building this across four areas: aerospace, semiconductors, manufacturing and industrial engineering, and materials science. If your work sits in one of those — or across two of them — this is for you.

The work draws on what you already know: the problems where the textbook answer isn’t enough, where the right approach depends on reading the constraints correctly, where a plausible-looking solution is quietly wrong.

What you’ll do

• Design difficult technical problems from your own area, with realistic constraints and supporting data.
• Provide the correct solution and walk through the reasoning that gets there.
• Define objective criteria for correctness, so another expert reviewing the work would reach the same verdict.
• Review problems built by other contributors for technical accuracy and soundness of method.
• Flag problems that turn out to be ambiguous or ungradable rather than submitting them.

What we’re looking for

• Master’s or PhD in engineering, physics, materials, or a closely related field.
• Principal, staff, or fellow-level experience at a major engineering organization, a national lab, or a faculty appointment at a leading university.
• Deep technical depth in at least one area, with hands‑on ownership of the work.
• Able to explain why an answer is correct clearly enough that another expert could verify it.
• Publications, patents, or a record of technical leadership is a strong plus.

How the selection process works

• Complete the AI interview for this role
• Profile review
• Onboarding — our Talent Ops team will get you set up

This is a 100% remote contract role, open to applicants worldwide in the countries the employer accepts.