Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We're a leading AI data company, building the layer between human expertise and frontier models. Millions of domain experts on the platform are paid over $4 million per day to train frontier AI models. Mercor's APEX benchmark family measures AI's real-world impact on professional work. Mercor Enterprise brings this same infrastructure to Fortune 500 companies: helping companies capture how their best people actually work, translating that expertise directly back into agents.
Mercor is creating a new category of work where expertise powers AI advancement. Achieving this requires an ambitious, fast-paced and deeply committed team. You’ll work alongside researchers, operators, and AI companies at the forefront of shaping the systems that are redefining society. Mercor is a profitable Series C company valued at $10 billion. We work in-person five days a week in our San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.
About the Role
As a Software Engineer Intern at Mercor, you’ll join a small, product-driven engineering team building modern backend systems that power critical workflows for some of the most advanced AI companies in the world. You’ll own projects end-to-end, designing, building, and shipping production systems that directly impact customers. From day one you’ll write production-grade code, reason about systems holistically, and make decisions that tie directly to business outcomes. You’ll work closely with product and design, moving fast while upholding a high bar for code quality, scalability, and simplicity.
At the end of the process, you’ll be team-matched to where you can have the most impact, on one of the following:
Talent platform side – building next-generation tools that automate recruiting end-to-end, intelligently match candidates to roles, and power global hiring with seamless contracts and payments.
Applied AI/human data side – partnering with top AI researchers from the AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to create post training datasets to improve foundational model capabilities.
What We’re Looking For
Pursuing a degree in Computer Science or a related field (graduating 2026–2028).
Strong programming skills in Python, Go, or JavaScript.
Understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems
Familiarity with APIs, SQL/NoSQL databases, and cloud platforms
Curiosity and passion for AI and startups
Excited to work in person and thrive in a fast-paced environment
Why Mercor
Impact: Your work powers how AI labs train and deploy their models
Learning: Get early exposure to frontier AI research and engineering
Growth: Work with a high-velocity team where interns ship to production
Benefits
Mentorship from experienced engineers.
Work on real, high-impact projects.
$1.5K monthly stipend for meals
Free Equinox membership
Team events and offsites.
Potential full-time return offer.
Skills Required
- Pursuing a degree in Computer Science or a related field, graduating between 2026 and 2028
- Strong programming skills in Python, Go, or JavaScript
- Understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems
- Familiarity with APIs, SQL or NoSQL databases, and cloud platforms
- Curiosity and passion for AI and startups
- Willingness to work in person and thrive in a fast-paced environment
Mercor Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Mercor and has not been reviewed or approved by Mercor.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered competitive across many roles, with clear hourly ranges and an hourly/pay‑per‑task mix designed to align rates with expertise. The structure emphasizes transparent, appropriate pay levels and guarantees payment for legitimate logged time.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Payments are processed on a predictable weekly cadence via Stripe/Wise, and some tracks offer additional weekly bonus incentives for top performers. This combination of regular payouts and performance bonuses supports dependable earnings when projects are active.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Select full‑time roles include generous equity grants alongside cash perks such as relocation and housing bonuses. These elements increase total compensation for those positions.
Mercor Insights
What We Do
We use AI to understand human ability and match talent with the opportunities they're best suited for.
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