AI expert work,
with the rates attached.
Sidequest is an independent view of the roles AI platforms publish for doctors, lawyers, analysts, engineers and linguists: every open listing on the platforms we track, the rate as published, and how the platforms compare.
740 open roles9 fields2 platforms
Built for
Latest roles
740 open roles across 9 fields
Generalist
micro1 recruits generalist contributors to write prompts, grade model responses, and flag reasoning errors across whatever domains a client project happens to need that week. Work is remote, project-based, and observed pay for this band runs $50–90/hr depending on the task queue and how much specialist knowledge it draws on.
3D Animator / CGI Artist
Rate and correct AI-generated 3D content — animation clips, rigs, shaders, and rendered frames — against the standards you'd apply in a studio review. Work is remote, task-based through micro1, with observed rates spanning $15–80/hr depending on specialisation and portfolio depth.
AI Rater Guidelines Writer (Linguist / Instructional Designer)
Write and revise the rating guidelines that human raters use to score LLM outputs, turning vague program specs into instructions that hold up under edge cases. Work spans finance, retail, insurance, legal, and sports domains, as a W-2 employee of Cincinnatus LLC placed with a leading AI lab.
Revenue Operations Specialist (SaaS)
micro1 recruits SaaS revenue operations practitioners to write and grade tasks that test how well AI models handle pipeline hygiene, forecasting logic, quota and territory design, and CRM data problems. Work is remote and asynchronous, typically 10–20 hours a week, with observed rates in the $50–100/hr range depending on depth and assessed quality.
Computational Structural & Mechanical Engineering Expert
Design original graduate-level computational problems in structural and mechanical engineering — FEA, CFD, thermodynamics, multiphysics — then test them against frontier AI models and tune difficulty until they hold. Work is Python-heavy: you write the problem setup, the oracle, and the validator, not just the prompt.
Travel Agent
Experienced travel agents review and grade AI-generated itineraries, booking logic, and destination advice for accuracy and practicality. Work is remote and task-based through micro1, with observed pay between $20 and $35 per hour depending on assessment results and task type.
What the work pays
Median hourly rate by field. Medians are Sidequest calculations over live listings; each listing shows the platform's own published rate.
Run the numbers on your own field.
Most evaluation work is paid by the hour and scheduled around you. Pick your field and the hours you could spare — the starting rate is the current median on our listings, and you can change it.
Median on our listings for stem and coding is $80, across 144 rate observations spanning $6–$280.
An estimate, not an offer. What you are paid depends on your credentials and how you score in screening, and hours are never guaranteed — most people treat this as a supplement rather than a salary.
Platforms covered by Sidequest
What each one screens for, how it pays, and who it suits, written independently of the platforms.
Mercor
Credentialed workCredentialed domain work in medicine, law, finance and PhD-level STEM. Screening includes credential verification and an AI-led video interview.
micro1
Task-based workEvaluation, annotation and rubric work with a wide range of role types, including engineering and language queues. Screening is a skills assessment and an AI interview.
Handshake AI
US networkThe AI evaluation arm of Handshake, the US college career platform. General evaluation work needs no AI background; domain-specific projects require the relevant credentials.
How Sidequest works
Sidequest is not an employer or an agency. It tracks the roles the platforms publish, shows what they pay, and sends you to the platform's own posting to apply.
Pick your fields
9 fields with open roles, filtered to the ones you hold credentials in. Or browse everything — every listing is public.
Check the listing
Each role shows the platform, the rate exactly as they published it, and when it was listed. The source posting is one click away.
Apply on the platform
You apply with them, not with us. If you are accepted through our link, the platform may pay us a referral commission. Your rate is unaffected.
A number you can't trace is a number we don't print.
Sidequest is written for people who check. So every claim on a listing is either the platform's own words or absent — no averages, no estimates, no “competitive”.
Every figure has a source
The rate on a listing is the platform's own published figure, taken from its posting. If the posting states none, the field is empty. The summary, eligibility guidance and screening preparation are prepared by Sidequest from that posting, and are labelled as ours.
Nothing is inferred on a listing
No role carries an estimated range or a “market rate”. Whenever Sidequest publishes a median — on the rates page, the homepage or the platforms comparison — it is labelled as our calculation over the listings we track, never as a platform's figure.
Listings are re-checked at the source
Every role is re-checked against its source on each scrape and marked inactive when it is no longer available there.
Rates are set by the platforms
We have no influence over them and earn nothing extra when they rise. Sidequest is free to use.
Know the market before you apply.
Maximizing Earnings in AI Evaluation: Rates, Tiers, and Moving Up
The spread between entry annotation and expert review is wide. Here's how the pay tiers actually work and the specific moves that shift you into the higher ones.
Read itHow to Pass the AI Interview: What Platform Screens Actually Measure
Mercor and micro1 both screen you with an AI interviewer before any human looks at your file. Knowing what the system scores removes most of the anxiety — and most of the failure modes.
Read itMercor vs micro1: A Comparison for Candidates
The two biggest expert platforms differ in screening, role mix, and who they suit. Here's the practical breakdown — including where each one frustrates people.
Read itPick your fields. We email you when roles appear.
One daily email listing new roles in your fields, sent only on days there are any. Separately, a weekly roundup collects guides and analysis. Change your fields or unsubscribe from any email.
Daily email only when there are new roles · weekly guides and analysis
Questions, answered plainly
No. Sidequest is free to use. We earn through referral relationships with participating platforms — if you are accepted through one of our links, the platform may pay us a commission. Your pay rate on any platform is never affected by our referral.
From the platform's own posting. A rate appears on a listing only when the platform published one; where they publish nothing, the field is left empty rather than estimated. Whenever Sidequest publishes a median — on the rates page, the homepage or the platforms comparison — it is labelled as our calculation over the listings we track.
Sidequest is built for professionals with domain expertise — clinicians, lawyers, analysts, engineers, researchers and linguists — looking for AI evaluation and expert-work opportunities related to their field. Eligibility and screening requirements vary by platform and role.
No. Sidequest is independent of the platforms it lists. We are not a recruiter — the platforms screen and hire you directly, and we have no influence on the outcome. Commissions do not buy placement or favourable coverage.
Two things, and only when there is something to send. One daily email lists new roles in the fields you picked, sent only on days there are any. Separately, a weekly roundup collects guides and analysis. Every email carries an unsubscribe link.
More on how we earn in the referral disclosure.
Put your credentials where they're wanted.
Free to use. Every listing links to the platform's own posting.