Full-Stack Engineer Talent Network

$70–150/hrrate as listed

Mercor maintains a standing pool of full-stack engineers who write, review, and grade tasks used to train and evaluate frontier coding models. You apply once, pass an AI screening interview, and get matched to projects as labs request full-stack expertise — typically 15–30 hours per week at observed rates of $70–150/hr.

Summary, eligibility guidance and screening preparation are prepared by Sidequest from the platform's posting. Check the source listing before applying.

What the work actually involves

This is not a product engineering job. You are building the material that teaches and measures a model: writing realistic full-stack tasks (a broken auth flow, an N+1 query in a Django ORM layer, a React state bug that only appears on rehydration), producing reference solutions, and then judging model attempts against them. Much of the day-to-day is comparative grading — two model responses to the same prompt, and you explain in writing which is better and precisely why. Rubric work rewards engineers who can articulate why a solution is wrong, not just flag that it is. Some projects lean toward authoring multi-file repository tasks with test harnesses; others are pure evaluation with a heavy annotation quota.

What the platform screens for

Mercor's intake is resume verification plus an AI-conducted interview. The interview probes whether your claimed stack experience survives follow-up questions: expect to be asked to explain a tradeoff you made in production, then to defend it against a plausible counterargument. Screens tend to filter on shipped professional work across both tiers — a frontend framework (React, Angular, Vue), a backend framework (Node, Django, Spring, Rails), and real experience with both relational and NoSQL data models. Communication is weighted heavily because the deliverable is written reasoning; vague or hedging explanations read as shallow domain knowledge to an automated scorer.

Logistics

Fully remote and largely asynchronous, with occasional calibration sessions or reviewer feedback loops.
Typical commitments run 15–30 hours per week, contract-based, project by project.
Applying joins a pool — matching is rolling, and there can be a gap between approval and a first project invitation.
Observed pay for this network runs $70–150/hr; the actual rate is set per project and depends on task complexity and seniority, not guaranteed by the listing.
Expect a second, project-specific interview before any engagement begins.

What they look for

Professional full-stack experience spanning a modern frontend framework (React, Angular, or Vue) and a server-side framework (Node.js, Django, Spring, or equivalent)
Working fluency with both relational (Postgres/MySQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB, DynamoDB, Redis) data modeling
Ability to write clear, specific technical critiques explaining why one implementation is better than another
Code review experience — reading unfamiliar code and identifying correctness, security, and performance defects
Self-directed remote work habits and consistent throughput without daily supervision
Comfort designing test cases and reproducible failure scenarios for authored tasks

Before you apply

Would you pass this screen?

Drawn from what this listing actually requires. Answered in your browser — nothing is sent to us, and we do not store your answers.

Have you built and shipped production features using at least one of React, Angular, or Vue?
Frontend framework experience · required
Have you built and shipped production backend systems using at least one of Node.js, Django, or Spring?
Backend framework experience · required
Have you designed or significantly modified a relational or NoSQL database schema for a production system?
Database design experience · required
Do you have at least 3 years of professional experience as a software engineer or full-stack developer?
Years of professional software development · preferred
Are you able to work remotely and independently, with reliable internet access and a suitable work environment?
Remote work capability · required

0 of 5 answered

Included with this listing

Interview prep — 12 questions

Matched to what this platform's screening actually measures. Answer each out loud in 60–90 seconds: claim → concrete example → implication.

What it tests: Confirms hands-on depth across both frontend and backend, not just surface familiarity; tests whether the candidate thinks architecturally about how layers interact.
A strong answer: Describe a specific project with named technologies (React + Node, or Angular + Django, etc.), explain a concrete decision about data flow or API design, and show you understood trade-offs rather than just following a pattern.
Where people lose it: Naming frameworks without explaining what you *built* with them, or treating frontend and backend as separate tasks rather than parts of one system you reasoned about together.