Visual Quality Expert - VFX Specialist

Mercor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 69,000 - 138,000; Part time

Job summary

Cincinnatus LLC is seeking a senior image quality evaluator to join a leading AI lab's GenAI team on a part-time W-2 engagement. You will assess 4K footage frame-by-frame, identifying artifacts and quality issues, and help define standardized evaluation templates for cross-team consistency.

The role requires 5+ years in high-end visual evaluation across film/VFX/photography, fluency in English, and the ability to work ~20 hours weekly overlapping PST/EST.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in high-end visual evaluation across film, VFX, animation, or professional photography.
• Direct experience in VFX Supervisor, Rendering Supervisor, Lighting Supervisor/Artist, Colorist, DP/Cinematographer, Surfacing Artist, High-End Photographer, Director, or Digital Projectionist.
• Training from a university or program with a highly respected film, visual effects, or digital media program.
• Reliable access to a 4K-resolution monitor for pixel-level evaluation.
• Familiarity with AI tools and workflows, including generating visual samples for testing.
• Ability to engage reliably for 20 hours per week, overlapping PST to EST.
• Fluent in English with the ability to translate visual details into precise descriptive language.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate high-resolution video and stills at pixel level, identifying compression artifacts, noise, aliasing, banding, grain-structure inconsistency, and over- or under-sharpening.
• Apply an uncompromising focus on intricate details that typically go unnoticed, and flag where output diverges from professional image-quality standards.
• Design and refine evaluation templates and rating guidelines to ensure consistent visual-quality bars.
• Translate complex visual details into clear, precise descriptive language for data captions and evaluation templates.
• Generate your own visual samples for targeted testing and side-by-side comparison.
• Collaborate with other subject matter experts and program leads to maintain visual consistency across sequences and reviewers.

Skills

Pixel-level evaluation

Visual quality standards

4K monitor access

English fluent

AI tools familiarity

Data captioning

Education

Film/VFX/digital media degree

Tools

4K monitor

Job description

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team to be at the core of the AI revolution, where your expertise fuels the development of the most advanced AI models.

1. Overview

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team and help build foundational AI models from the ground up. We're seeking senior image quality experts from film, VFX, animation, and professional photography — VFX and rendering supervisors, colorists, cinematographers, lighting artists, and high-end photographers — with a strong foundation in visual perception, light physics, and pixel-level scrutiny. You will judge, frame by frame, whether an enhanced or upscaled image actually holds up, catching the compression artifacts, noise, aliasing, grain-structure inconsistency, and over- or under-sharpening that typically go unnoticed by the average viewer.

This is a part-time W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, with the opportunity to be placed at a leading AI Lab as part of their extended workforce.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Evaluate high-resolution video and stills at pixel level, identifying compression artifacts, noise, aliasing, banding, grain-structure inconsistency, and over- or under-sharpening.


• Apply an uncompromising focus on the intricate details that typically go unnoticed, and flag where output diverges from professional image-quality standards.


• Design and refine evaluation templates and rating guidelines so reviewers apply the same visual-quality bar consistently, including under edge cases.


• Translate complex visual details into clear, precise descriptive language that can be captured in data captions and evaluation templates.


• Generate your own visual samples for targeted testing and side-by-side comparison.


• Collaborate with other subject matter experts and program leads to maintain visual consistency across sequences and across reviewers.

3. Core Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in high-end visual evaluation across film, VFX, animation, or professional photography.


• Direct professional experience in at least one of the following disciplines:
  
  
  
  • Visual Effects (VFX) Supervisor — the authority on final image quality, with an elite eye for pixel-level flaws, grain-structure inconsistencies, and visual artifacts.
  
  
  • Rendering Supervisor — accustomed to running dailies and taking ultimate responsibility for visual quality down to the absolute pixel.
  
  
  • Lighting Supervisor, Lead, or Artist — a specialist in illumination and the foundational building blocks of digital video and cinematic motion.
  
  
  • Colorist — deep expertise in color grading, artifact detection, and maintaining visual consistency across sequences.
  
  
  • Director of Photography (DP) or Cinematographer — skilled at framing, capturing visual performance, and critically evaluating over- and under-sharpness in high-resolution images.
  
  
  • Effects or Surfacing Artist — strong command of textures, materials, and the complex simulation of visual elements.
  
  
  • High-End Photographer — deep command of lighting dynamics, depth of field, and color artifacts in high-resolution captures.
  
  
  • Director — particularly those with deep experience directing crowd and background action.
  
  
  • Digital Projectionist — a rigorously trained eye for final-output quality, screen-level fidelity, and visual anomalies.
  
  
  
  


• Training from a university or program with a highly respected film, visual effects, or digital media program.


• Reliable access to a 4K-resolution monitor or display to perform precise, pixel-level evaluation.


• Familiarity with AI tools and workflows, including the ability to generate your own visual samples for testing and comparison.


• Ability to engage reliably for 20 hours per week, with working hours overlapping the PST to EST window.


• Fluent in English, with the exceptional ability to translate complex visual details into clear, precise descriptive language.

About Cincinnatus LLC:Cincinnatus LLC is an enterprise staffing company that partners with leading technology companies to source and employ highly skilled professionals for contingent and contract-based opportunities. Cincinnatus serves as the employer of record for these engagements, providing W-2 employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance, while placing employees directly within client teams to work on high-impact initiatives.

Equal Employment Opportunity:Cincinnatus is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.