Senior Engineering and Software Domain Expert

OpenTrain AI; California, Northern (MO, KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 145,000; Part time

Job summary

OpenTrain AI is seeking a Senior Engineering and Software Domain Expert to work with research and program management on engineering-focused AI training. You will review knowledge-work tasks and model outputs, create high-quality evaluation material, and help establish standards for engineering capabilities.

This hybrid Bay Area contractor role requires on-site presence several days per week or relocation at your cost.

Qualifications

• Substantial professional engineering experience with ability to assess technical correctness and quality of reasoning.
• Clear, precise written feedback; able to articulate evaluation criteria.
• Hands-on use of large language models in professional settings.

Responsibilities

• Review knowledge-work tasks and model outputs for quality and correctness.
• Identify missing behaviors, shallow reasoning, and edge cases in outputs.
• Write high-quality instruction specifications and golden solutions for engineering problems.
• Define new engineering tasks reflecting real-world professional practice.
• Design challenging engineering tasks and evaluation sets for AI training.
• Collaborate with researchers to maintain standards and translate tacit judgment into explicit criteria.

Skills

Engineering experience

Code review

LLM tooling

Distributed systems

Security & cryptography

ML systems

Developer tooling

Quality engineering

Written communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related

Master's degree or PhD preferred

Job description

About OpenTrain

OpenTrain is the #1 platform for finding and building careers in AI training and data labeling. OpenTrain AI recruits contractors for specialized projects where human expertise helps improve cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems.

• Build experience in a fast-growing AI training industry.
• Create an OpenTrain account for free and apply in minutes.
• Work on projects that connect real professional expertise with frontier AI development.

About AI Training Work

AI models learn more effectively when experienced professionals prepare examples, evaluate responses, and explain what makes an answer accurate, complete, and useful. In this role, your engineering judgment will help models reason about production software, system design, code quality, and real-world development practices.

• Evaluate model reasoning, generated code, and engineering knowledge.
• Turn expert judgment into clear instructions and teachable evaluation criteria.
• Help shape how advanced AI systems handle software engineering work.

The Role

OpenTrain AI is seeking a Senior Engineering and Software Domain Expert to work with research and program management teams on engineering-focused AI training. You will review knowledge-work tasks and model outputs, create high-quality evaluation material, and help establish standards for engineering-specific capabilities.

This is a hybrid contractor role based in the Bay Area, California. You must currently live in the Bay Area and work on-site with the project team multiple days each week, or be willing to relocate at your own cost.

• Experience level: Expert.
• Employment type: Contractor and part-time.
• Location: Bay Area, California, United States.
• Language: English.
• Initial engagement: 6 months.
• Stated project commitment: 40 hours per week; the listed time requirement is 20+ hours per week.

What You'll Do

You will translate practical engineering experience into challenging tasks, reliable reference answers, and consistent review standards. The work requires close attention to subtle technical issues, including reasoning gaps and code that appears plausible but would fail in a real engineering environment.

• Vet engineering knowledge-work tasks and model outputs for quality.
• Identify missing behaviors, shallow reasoning, subtly incorrect code, and unhandled edge cases.
• Review answers for the correctness, completeness, and robustness expected in a real code review.
• Write high-quality instruction specifications and produce golden solutions to engineering problems.
• Define new engineering tasks that reflect real-world professional practice.
• Design challenging engineering tasks and evaluation sets.
• Help build engineering-specific skills and tools with the research team.
• Work with researchers and specialists to maintain consistent standards.
• Translate tacit engineering judgment into explicit, teachable criteria.

Requirements

This role requires substantial professional engineering experience and the ability to assess both technical correctness and the quality of reasoning behind an answer. You should be able to communicate detailed feedback clearly in writing and distinguish genuinely reliable solutions from plausible-sounding mistakes.

• Bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, software engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Master's degree or PhD strongly preferred.
• At least 4 years of substantive professional engineering practice building and shipping production software or engineered systems at a reputable organization.
• Genuine specialization in at least one relevant area, such as distributed systems, security and cryptography, embedded and firmware, ML systems, developer tooling, or quality and test engineering.
• Clear progression to a senior level such as Senior, Staff, Principal, Architect, or Engineering Lead.
• Demonstrated ownership of systems and design decisions.
• Hands‑on professional use of large language models.
• Ability to review code and engineering outputs for correctness, completeness, and robustness.
• Excellent written communication and precise, well-structured written feedback.

Helpful Background and Compensation

A visible record of engineering output can strengthen your application. Relevant examples may include systems you shipped, granted patents, open source contributions, or published technical work.

• Pay: $65-$105 per hour.
• Schedule: 20+ hours per week listed, with a stated 40-hour-per-week commitment for the initial engagement.
• Contract length: Initial 6-month engagement.
• Helpful evidence: shipped systems, patents, open source work, or published technical work.

Why Join AI Training

AI training brings experienced professionals into the process of building modern AI. Contributors evaluate and create examples that teach models how to respond, reason, and perform specialized work, making this a direct way to apply your expertise to the future of software engineering.

• Contribute to the development of state‑of‑the‑art AI systems.
• Use your engineering background in a specialized evaluation role.
• Join a rapidly growing field where human expertise remains essential.