About the role
Staff Software Engineer (AI Evals)
Contract | $100–$200/hour | 20-40 hrs/week | Start ASAP
We’re looking for highly experienced software engineer to help evaluate the quality of interactions with modern coding agents such as OpenAI Codex and Claude Code.
This is not a traditional engineering role.
You won’t be writing production code.
You’ll be evaluating something harder: whether the model thinks like a great engineer.
What This Role Actually Is
You will assess how AI coding agents behave in real-world scenarios — focusing on:
* Whether the response makes sense
* Whether the preamble and reasoning are useful
* Whether the output reflects strong engineering judgment
* Whether the interaction feels right to an experienced developer
This role is about engineering taste — not syntax correctness.
What You’ll Be Doing
* Evaluate AI-generated coding interactions end-to-end
* Judge whether outputs are: * Useful * Correct (at a high level) * Aligned with how a strong engineer would think
* Assess the quality of explanations and reasoning, not just code
* Distinguish between different levels of response quality (e.g. what makes something a 2 vs 4)
* Provide clear, opinionated feedback on: * What worked * What didn’t * What felt “off” or misleading
* Help define what great looks like when interacting with tools like Cursor
What We Mean by “Taste”
We’re specifically looking for engineers who can answer questions like:
* Does this feel like something a strong engineer would actually say?
* Is this explanation helpful, or just technically correct?
* Is the model guiding the user well, or just dumping output?
* Would this interaction build or erode trust?
You should be comfortable making subjective but rigorous judgments.
Who You Are
* Staff / Principal-level engineer (or equivalent experience)
* Strong background in one of the below: * Go * Python * Rust * TypeScript / JavaScript
* Hands-on experience using: * OpenAI Codex * Claude Code * Cursor
* Deep familiarity with modern AI-assisted dev workflows
* Able to evaluate code without needing to fully execute or deeply review every line
* Comfortable giving direct, opinionated feedback
* High bar for what “good engineering” looks like
Nice to Have
* Experience with tools like Cursor or similar AI-first IDEs
* Prior exposure to prompt design or evaluation workflows
* Experience mentoring senior engineers or defining engineering standards
Engagement Details
* Rate: $100–$200/hour
* Hours: ~20 hours+
* Duration: Through October w/possible extentions
* Start: ASAP
* Process: * Take-home evaluation exercise * Background Check * Offer
Originally posted on Himalayas