Security Engineer — Cryptanalysis / Reverse Engineering

Only for specialist roles: ML research, atmospheric modeling, bioinformatics, COBOL, and audit accounting positions require verifiable credentials, usually a PhD, master's degree, or 5+ years of professional experience. AfterQuery's domain screeners check credentials before confirming an assignment, so listing a degree without the matching experience won't get you through. Generalist reviewer roles have a lower bar but come up less often.

Typically 2 to 3 weeks at 10 to 20 hours a week. There's no guaranteed follow-on work once a project closes, so treat it as a high-pay burst contract rather than steady income. AfterQuery does re-hire specialists for new campaigns, but that depends entirely on what AI labs are training at the time.

Because general knowledge isn't what's being tested. The model already knows the basics; what it needs is expertise on edge cases, the rare, difficult, highly technical judgment calls only a senior professional in the field would make correctly.

Slow and deep, not fast and repetitive. A single task can take 45-60 minutes of researching citations or verifying complex calculations. Quality is what's being measured here, not throughput.

Tasks here are scoped to Software Engineering, not generic labeling. As a Security Engineer — Cryptanalysis / Reverse Engineering, expect to draw on real domain judgment (evaluating outputs, correcting errors, or providing expert reasoning specific to Software Engineering) rather than following a one-size-fits-all rubric. If you don't have hands-on Software Engineering background, this is likely not the right listing to start with.

Coding and Expert are named directly in the listing. If you don't have hands-on experience with these, expect the screening process to test for them directly rather than accepting adjacent experience as a substitute.

This listing is posted at $135/hr, an hourly rate. Pay can change between when we last checked the listing and when you apply, so confirm the current number on the platform's own application page before committing time.

You'll be taken to Afterquery's external site to complete your application there. This listing links through a referral, but the process is identical to applying directly; the link just routes you correctly. Create an account on their site and follow their onboarding steps.