Software Engineer
Micro1 • Remote
Education
Any
Type
per_task
Pay Rate (by country)
$40–$75/task
Actively Hiring
50 openings
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What We Know About This Role
- Weekly hours
- 10–15 hrs/week
- Start timeline
- Starts within 24–48 hrs of onboarding
About this Role
From the Micro1 listing
Job Title: Software Engineering Job Type: Contractor (10-15 hours per week) Location: Remote
Job Summary
We are looking for experienced software engineers to help train and evaluate next-generation AI systems through real-world software engineering tasks. This role is best suited for developers who can reason through unfamiliar codebases, explain engineering decisions clearly, and solve practical backend, full-stack, systems, or infrastructure-related problems.
A Cybersecurity/SecOps background or exposure is highly preferred
As and expert you will be creating Reinforcement Learning Environments which test an AI model's ability to find and patch security vulnerabilities in code. Your task will be to create a reproducible RL env in which a known CVE is present/injected in the repository and must be fixed by the model.
Key Responsibilities
- Work on challenging software engineering tasks across backend, full-stack, infrastructure, and systems-related projects.
- Review, debug, improve, and explain code across different technical environments.
- Design or evaluate practical solutions involving APIs, databases, services, integrations, testing, and deployment workflows.
- Identify tradeoffs around scalability, maintainability, performance, reliability, security, and developer experience.
- Communicate technical reasoning clearly in writing, including why a solution works and what alternatives were considered.
- Collaborate with the customer’s team on technical reviews, implementation decisions, and problem-solving exercises.
- Adapt quickly to new codebases, frameworks, and technical requirements.
Required Skills and Qualifications
- 3+ years of hands-on software engineering experience.
- Strong experience in at least one backend or full-stack engineering environment, such as Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, Java, C++, Go or Rust
- Experience building, maintaining, or reviewing production-level applications, APIs, services, databases, or integrations.
- Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals, including debugging, testing, code quality, architecture, and technical tradeoffs.
- Ability to explain complex engineering decisions clearly and objectively.
- Comfortable reading and reasoning through unfamiliar code or technical requirements
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with cloud environments such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps workflows, containers, monitoring, or production operations.
- Experience with frontend frameworks such as React, Next.js, Angular, Vue, or React Native.
- Open-source contributions, public GitHub work, technical writing, or strong examples of past engineering work.
- Experience mentoring engineers, reviewing code, or making architecture decisions.
Compensation Structure
Compensation is output-based; experts are paid per task that meets the project specifications. The time required to complete work may vary depending on the expert’s experience and workflow. Minimum submission requirements apply. Experts must submit a minimum of tasks per week.
Start Timeline & Availability
We typically fill roles within 48 hours and are looking for experts ready to jump in right away. If selected, we expect you to start your first tasks within 24–48 hours of completing onboarding.
Requirements
- JavaScript
- Typescript
- JAVA
- C#
- C++
- GoLang
- Ruby
Key Responsibilities
- Work on challenging software engineering tasks across backend, full-stack, infrastructure, and systems-related projects.
- Review, debug, improve, and explain code across different technical environments.
- Design or evaluate practical solutions involving APIs, databases, services, integrations, testing, and deployment workflows.
- Identify tradeoffs around scalability, maintainability, performance, reliability, security, and developer experience.
Why This Role
Compensation is output-based; experts are paid per task that meets the project specifications. The time required to complete work may vary depending on the expert’s experience and workflow. Minimum submission requirements apply. Experts must submit a minimum of tasks per week.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply to Micro1 from outside the US or UK?
Yes. Micro1 accepts applicants from most countries worldwide, unlike DataAnnotation or Outlier, both of which cap access to a handful of English-speaking countries. Most roles still require strong written and spoken English.
Does Micro1 monitor your computer while you work?
On many projects, yes, through time-tracking tools that take periodic screenshots to verify active hours. Check the specific project's requirements before accepting if desktop monitoring is a dealbreaker.
What does the Micro1 application process look like?
Expect a screening interview with Zara, Micro1's AI recruiter. Prepare for it like a real video call: good lighting, clear audio, verbal answers to technical questions. A human manager reviews the recording afterward, and some roles add a short skills assessment on top.
What does task-based AI training work actually look like?
Practical, hands-on data work: recording short videos, categorizing images, rating text responses, or analyzing data. Tasks are designed to be short and distinct, typically 5 to 60 minutes each.
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.
What does Software Engineering work look like for a Software Engineer?
Tasks here are scoped to Software Engineering, not generic labeling. As a Software 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.
How many hours per week does this role require?
Based on the listing, this role is scoped at 10–15 hours per week. Treat this as a real commitment expectation, not a loose estimate.
What does the 'openings' count on this listing mean?
It's Micro1's live count of how many candidates it's still trying to place for this specific role, 50 right now, not a countdown on your individual application. A higher number signals more active demand; it doesn't lower the bar for acceptance.
How does per-task pay translate to an hourly rate?
It doesn't directly, that's the catch. Each task has a listed price and an estimated completion time, but your actual effective rate depends on how fast you work. If a task is estimated at 20 minutes and pays $8, that is $24/hr for a fast worker and $12/hr for a slow one. Track your actual time on the first few tasks before treating the listed rate as your real hourly income.
What happens when I click Apply on this listing?
You'll be taken to Micro1'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.