Cybersecurity Practitioner: Paid Expert Interviews (SOC, Incident Response, Detection, AppSec)
Mercor • Remote
Education
Not stated
Type
Hourly
Pay Rate
$125–$175/hr
Listed
10d ago
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Apply Now → ⚡ Boost your chances - Optimize your resume with Rezi.aiAbout this role
From the Mercor listing
About the work
Mercor is designing a benchmark that measures how well AI agents do real enterprise cyber defense work. Before we build it, we want to hear from people who do that work every day.
This is a short paid research engagement, not a task or data project. You will join two to three one-hour video conversations with the Mercor team over roughly four weeks, scheduled around your availability.
What we will talk about
- How your work actually happens: the tools you live in, what lands in your queue, where judgment matters and where it does not.
- How your team measures whether a triage, investigation, containment, hunt, detection rule or patch was done well.
- Where AI assistance helps you today, where it gets in the way, and what would make a benchmark of AI on this work credible to you.
- Our draft task taxonomy: what is missing, what is mislabeled, what you would weight differently.
Who we are looking for
Current or recent hands-on practitioners in enterprise security, for example:
- SOC analysts and SOC leads (tier 2 and above)
- Incident responders and digital forensics investigators
- Detection engineers and threat hunters
- Application security or product security engineers who find and fix vulnerabilities in production code
- Security engineers who have run or been on the receiving end of a red team engagement
Experience with an EDR and SIEM stack (CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender and Sentinel, Splunk, SentinelOne, Elastic or similar) is a plus. Security leaders are welcome if you are still close to the work.
Pay and time
- Paid hourly for interview time as a spot bonus. Sessions are one hour; no prep is expected.
- Two to three sessions in total. Nothing to build, label or submit.
- Remote, US-based.
Confidentiality
We will ask you to describe patterns, not specific incidents, and to leave out anything confidential about current or former employers or customers. Your input is used only to design the benchmark and is never attributed to you or your employer.
Requirements
- Must be eligible to work in Remote
- Fluent proficiency in English (Written & Verbal)
- Reliable high-speed internet connection
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience
- Demonstrated expertise in Software Engineering
How long hiring takes
Across the AI training platforms we refer candidates to, the median gap between referral and hire is about 30 days. It varies by platform and role, so treat it as a rough guide for this one.
Talent Pool members
Apply through this link and we can put you forward to Mercor when your profile is a strong match. Not every applicant is submitted. If you're not in the pool yet, set up your profile first.
Set up your profile →Why this role
This Cybersecurity Practitioner: Paid Expert Interviews (SOC, Incident Response, Detection, AppSec) role pays $125–$175/hr for your Software Engineering judgment directly, without requiring case files, client meetings, or firm overhead to get there.
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Common questions
Does Mercor's application require an on-camera interview?
Yes, every applicant records a video interview with an AI interviewer that asks questions about your resume. Clients review that recording to judge communication skills before matching, so there's no way to apply without going on camera.
Does it cost money to apply to Mercor?
No, applying and joining Mercor is free. Mercor's revenue comes from a fee it charges the client on top of your hourly rate, not from applicants. Treat any request for payment to join as a red flag.
What does the day-to-day workload look like for elite-expert AI training roles?
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.
Is AI training work the same as traditional consulting?
No. Instead of client deliverables, you're given complex scenarios to evaluate: grading the AI's logic, correcting its hallucinations, and supplying expert-level reasoning it doesn't have on its own. The job is closer to teaching than consulting.
What does Software Engineering work look like for a Cybersecurity Practitioner: Paid Expert Interviews (SOC, Incident Response, Detection, AppSec)?
Tasks here are scoped to Software Engineering, not generic labeling. As a Cybersecurity Practitioner: Paid Expert Interviews (SOC, Incident Response, Detection, AppSec), 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?
Expert is named directly in the listing. If you don't have hands-on experience with this, expect the screening process to test for it directly rather than accepting adjacent experience as a substitute.
How much does this specific role pay?
This listing is posted at $125–$175/hr, an hourly rate. The range reflects experience level and negotiated terms, not a placeholder, so where you land in it depends on your background and the assessment. 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 Mercor'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.
How soon will I start working after applying to Mercor?
Not immediately. Mercor is a talent marketplace, not a task queue, so applying puts you in a pool of candidates. You start working only once a specific client, like a major AI lab, selects your profile, and that matching process can take weeks.