Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We partner with leading AI labs and enterprises to provide the human intelligence essential to AI development. Our vast talent network trains frontier AI models in the same way teachers teach students: by sharing knowledge, experience, and context that can't be captured in code alone. Today, more than 30,000 experts in our network collectively earn over $2 million a day.
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 MercorMercor is defining the future of work. We partner with leading AI labs and enterprises to provide the human intelligence essential to AI development.
Our vast talent network trains frontier AI models in the same way teachers teach students: by sharing knowledge, experience, and context that can't be captured in code alone. Today, more than 30,000 experts in our network collectively earn over $2 million a day.
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 new San Francisco headquarters.
About the Role
As a Backend Engineer at Mercor, you will build core platform systems that make our operations secure, reliable, and scalable. This role focuses on two critical areas: Contracts and Identity & Access.
Contracts: Build the backend infrastructure that enables flexible ways for our network of Experts to perform work and get paid. This work expands our product capabilities and supports the development of higher-quality foundational models.
Identity & Access: Design and maintain systems that provision and deprovision access just-in-time, ensuring Experts can securely perform a wide range of tasks across the platform.
You’ll work on foundational systems that sit at the heart of Mercor’s platform, requiring strong ownership, sound architectural judgment, and a focus on security and reliability.
This role is a strong fit for a generalist backend engineer who enjoys building core systems end-to-end. Experience with identity systems or enterprise access management is a strong plus.
You will:
Develop robust infrastructure for platform operations, including systems that support complex contract-related workflows, payouts, fraud, and more.
Work closely with engineering leads and cross-functional partners to translate operational needs into reliable, scalable backend services.
Improve security, reliability, and developer ergonomics across the systems that underpin Mercor's platform.
Contribute to a fast-moving engineering organization where strong backend engineers may flex across teams and high-priority platform initiatives.
What We're Looking For
4+ years experience building building production systems at scale.
Experience with identity, access control, or enterprise access management systems is a strong plus.
Ability to work across ambiguous requirements and deliver practical, reliable systems quickly.
High ownership mindset and willingness to work on foundational problems that support many parts of the business.
Why Mercor
Impact: Your work will strengthen the core systems that power Mercor's platform and enable secure, scalable operations.
Breadth: You'll work on foundational backend problems with exposure to identity, security, internal tooling, and platform infrastructure.
Growth: You'll join a fast-moving team with significant ownership and room to expand into increasingly critical technical challenges.
Benefits
Bi-annual performance bonus structure
Generous equity grant vested over 4 years
Up to $15k Relocation bonus
$10K housing bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office)
$1.5K monthly stipend for meals
Free Equinox membership
$200 monthly laundry reimbursement
$200 monthly personal wellness reimbursement
Health, Dental, Vision insurance
Skills Required
- 4+ years experience building production systems at scale
- Experience with identity, access control, or enterprise access management systems
- Ability to work across ambiguous requirements and deliver practical, reliable systems quickly
- High ownership mindset and willingness to work on foundational problems
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
