Power Systems Engineer
Handshake • Remote
Education
Bachelor
Type
Hourly
Pay Rate
$80/hr
Listed
141d ago
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Apply Now → ⚡ Boost your chances - Optimize your resume with Rezi.aiAbout this role
From the Handshake listing
Overview
Handshake is looking for power systems and T&D engineering professionals to support AI research through flexible, hourly contract work. This is not a traditional job. You'll draw on your hands-on experience with power systems analysis, grid planning, and industrial controls to evaluate AI-generated content and provide feedback that helps AI better understand power systems workflows and engineering practices.
This is an ongoing, project-based opportunity you can take on alongside anything else you have going on.
Details
This project involves using your professional experience and hands-on knowledge of the tools you use in your daily work to create expert-level training data and evaluate AI-generated responses for accuracy and relevance. No prior AI experience required.
Fully remote with a flexible, asynchronous schedule and no minimum hour requirement; most contributors work approximately 5–20 hours per week when participating in an active project.
Placement depends on current project needs, with opportunities to be considered for future projects as they become available.
Qualifications
At least 2 years of professional experience in power systems engineering, T&D planning, or industrial controls, in roles such as:
Distribution or Transmission Planning Engineer
Power Systems Engineer or Reliability Engineer
SCADA Engineer, Control Systems Engineer, or Automation Engineer
Or equivalent roles in the energy industry
Hands-on experience with one or more of the following tools:
CYME
PSS/E
ETAP
WinCC
Strong written communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently and asynchronously with AI research teams.
The application process
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Interview Prep
Sample questions for a Systems Engineer role, written in-house to help you prepare.
How do you decide between round-robin and least-connections load balancing for a given service?
I use round-robin when requests are roughly uniform in processing time, and least-connections when request duration varies significantly, since round-robin can overload a server handling several slow requests while it keeps receiving new ones at the same rate as faster servers.
What's your process for diagnosing intermittent network latency that only occurs under peak load?
I check for saturation on specific links or interfaces during the peak window using monitoring data, rather than testing during off-peak hours when the issue won't reproduce. I also look at whether the latency correlates with a specific service or is spread across the network, which points to either an application issue or a capacity issue.
How do you approach capacity planning for network infrastructure that needs to support future growth?
I project growth based on historical trend data combined with known upcoming initiatives, and I build in headroom above the projection since infrastructure upgrades often have long lead times. I avoid provisioning purely for current load, since that leaves no margin for unexpected spikes or faster-than-projected growth.
What steps do you take to ensure a load balancer configuration change doesn't cause an outage during deployment?
I test the configuration change in a staging environment that mirrors production traffic patterns first, and I roll out changes gradually, shifting a small percentage of traffic before a full cutover. I also keep the previous configuration ready to roll back to quickly if something unexpected happens.
Why this role
This Power Systems Engineer role runs entirely remote at $80/hr, so your location stops being a factor in whether you can do Software Engineering work for an AI lab.
Skills and categories
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Common questions
Can I use Handshake if I graduated years ago?
Probably not a good fit. Handshake's AI Fellowship roles target current university students and early talent within about 1-2 years of graduation. Experienced professionals typically find faster approval and better rates on Outlier or Mercor.
Is Handshake itself the employer for AI training roles?
For the AI Fellowship roles specifically, yes, Handshake acts as the employer of record. That's different from the rest of the site, which functions as a job board listing openings for other companies.
What does asynchronous AI training work mean in practice?
No set hours, no check-ins, no meetings. You log in when you want, pick up an available task, complete it, and submit; nobody is waiting on you in real time. That's different from remote employment, where you're expected online during business hours. The tradeoff: you're competing with others for available tasks, so an empty queue means there's simply nothing to do until more work is released.
Do task-based AI training roles require an interview?
Most skip a live interview entirely and gate access through an automated assessment or qualification task instead. Where we've confirmed the specific requirement for this listing, it's called out above in What We Know About This Role.
What does Software Engineering work look like for a Power Systems Engineer?
Tasks here are scoped to Software Engineering, not generic labeling. As a Power Systems Engineer, 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.
What specific skills does this listing call for?
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.
How much does this specific role pay?
This listing is posted at $80/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.
What happens when I click Apply on this listing?
You'll be taken to Handshake'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.
Are Handshake AI training listings internships?
Some are, some aren't. Handshake lists both standard internships and separate "AI Trainer" fellowships. Check the job description for "1099" or "Contract" language: that signals a freelance role, not W-2 employment.