Engineering & Software Domain Expert | $65–105/hr | Bay Area, CA (Hybrid)
Join a leading AI lab's GenAI team and play a central role in shaping how frontier AI models reason about real-world engineering and software development. This is a full-time, W-2 position with Cincinnatus LLC, embedded directly within a top AI lab's research team in the Bay Area.
What You'll Do
- Data QA & Review: Evaluate engineering knowledge tasks and model outputs, identifying missing behaviors, subtle code errors, unhandled edge cases, and answers that wouldn't survive a real code review.
- Instruction Specs & Golden Datasets: Write high-quality instruction specs, produce golden solutions to engineering problems, and define new tasks that reflect how engineering work is actually done in practice.
- Benchmarks & Domain Depth: Design challenging evaluation sets and engineering tasks, and collaborate with research teams to build domain-specific skills and tooling.
- Calibration: Partner with researchers and adjacent specialists to maintain consistent standards, translating tacit engineering judgment into explicit, teachable criteria.
What We're Looking For
- Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related discipline. MS or PhD strongly preferred.
- Experience: 4+ years of professional engineering practice building and shipping production software or engineered systems at a reputable organization.
- Domain Depth: Genuine specialization in at least one area — such as distributed systems, backend infrastructure, security/cryptography, embedded/firmware, ML systems, developer tooling, platform engineering, or quality/test engineering.
- Seniority: Clear progression to a senior level (Senior, Staff, Principal, Architect, or Engineering Lead) with real ownership of systems and design decisions.
- Technical Evidence: A visible record of engineering output — shipped systems, open source contributions, patents, or published technical work is preferred.
- AI Fluency: Hands-on experience with large language models in a professional context, with the judgment to distinguish well-reasoned answers from plausible-sounding ones.
- Communication: Excellent written communication skills with the ability to deliver precise, well-structured technical feedback.
Location & Availability
This is a hybrid role based in the Bay Area, California. Candidates must live in the Bay Area and be available to work on-site multiple days per week. Relocation assistance is not provided. Candidates must be able to commit to 40 hours per week for an initial 6-month engagement.
About Cincinnatus LLC
Cincinnatus LLC is an enterprise staffing company partnering with leading technology firms to place highly skilled professionals in structured, high-impact roles. Cincinnatus serves as the employer of record, providing W-2 employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance while integrating employees directly into client teams.
Cincinnatus is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process.
