Remote Python Codebase Explorer for AI Reasoning

Mercor; Miami (FL); On-site; USD 5,200 - 16,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is hiring experienced Python engineers to build datasets that teach AI to reason about real codebases. You will work on a remote, task-based model, selecting pre-validated repositories, investigating runtime behavior, and rewriting questions to challenge frontier agents.

You’ll document progress and iterate through validation stages with expert review for each task. The role emphasizes deep understanding of production Python, web frameworks, and tooling, with collaboration across time

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience with production Python
• Ability to navigate a large, unfamiliar Python codebase and explain runtime behavior
• Fluency in Python internals that matter in real systems: import machinery, descriptors and metaclasses, async/event loops, packaging, and C-extension boundaries
• Experience with web frameworks, developer tooling, type checkers, or scientific/numeric libraries is highly relevant
• Precise written English: the questions and rubrics you write are the product
• Comfortable with git at commit level, containerized environments, and command-line tooling

Responsibilities

• Select tasks from a pre-validated pool of Python repositories, each pinned to a specific git commit and arriving with an engineering question, positive and negative rubrics, foils, and a golden solution
• Explore the repository until you genuinely understand the subsystem in question, including the relevant PR or issue history
• Rewrite the task's question so it defeats frontier coding agents while remaining well-defined and fairly answerable
• Adjust rubrics and foils so they reward correct reasoning and reject plausible-but-wrong answers
• Run the full validation loop in Studio — Check, Golden, Run, Analyze — and iterate until every stage passes
• Document your work in the task README and submit for expert review, addressing reviewer feedback on returned tasks

Skills

Python

Codebase navigation

English writing

Git & CLI

Tools

Git

Containers

Okta

CI/CD

Job description

Mercor is hiring experienced Python engineers to build datasets that teach AI to reason about real codebases. You will work on a remote, task-based model, selecting pre-validated repositories, investigating runtime behavior, and rewriting questions to challenge frontier agents.

You’ll document progress and iterate through validation stages with expert review for each task. The role emphasizes deep understanding of production Python, web frameworks, and tooling, with collaboration across time