Backend Engineer – AI Coding Agent (Remote)

About the role

Mercor is seeking a Backend Engineer to work with cutting‑edge AI coding agents on complex engineering tasks. This remote contract position allows you to apply professional backend expertise while helping improve the performance of frontier AI models.

Key responsibilities

• Leverage AI coding agents (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Windsurf, Gemini CLI) to complete and evaluate backend engineering tasks.
• Review model‑generated code for correctness, quality, maintainability, and performance.
• Identify bugs, edge cases, and failure modes in AI‑produced outputs.
• Compare results from multiple models and assess their strengths and weaknesses.
• Apply engineering judgment to realistic backend scenarios and suggest improvements.
• Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines while contributing to model refinement.

Required profile

• 2+ years of professional backend engineering experience.
• Hands‑on experience building APIs, distributed systems, microservices, backend platforms, or databases.
• Regular use of AI coding agents such as Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, or similar tools.
• Ability to evaluate model‑generated code and pinpoint bugs, edge cases, and architectural trade‑offs.

Required skills

• API development
• Distributed systems
• Microservices architecture
• Database design and management
• AI coding agents (Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Windsurf, Gemini CLI)
• Code review and quality assessment

What we offer

• Compensation of $85 per hour.
• $400 per accepted task (typical tasks take 1–3 hours after ramp‑up).
• No fixed task limits; payment tied to accepted work.