Software Engineer Intern
AI Summary
Software Engineer Intern at Mercor builds production backend systems for AI companies, owning projects end-to-end from design to shipping, with mentorship and a potential full-time return offer.
About this role
About Mercor
Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We're a leading AI data company, building the layer between human expertise and frontier models. Millions of domain experts on the platform are paid over $4 million per day to train frontier AI models. Mercor's APEX benchmark family measures AI's real-world impact on professional work. Mercor Enterprise brings this same infrastructure to Fortune 500 companies: helping companies capture how their best people actually work, translating that expertise directly back into agents.
Mercor is creating a new category of work where expertise powers AI advancement. Achieving this requires an ambitious, fast-paced and deeply committed team. You’ll work alongside researchers, operators, and AI companies at the forefront of shaping the systems that are redefining society. Mercor is a profitable Series C company valued at $10 billion. We work in-person five days a week in our San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.
About the Role
As a Software Engineer Intern at Mercor, you’ll join a small, product-driven engineering team building modern backend systems that power critical workflows for some of the most advanced AI companies in the world. You’ll own projects end-to-end, designing, building, and shipping production systems that directly impact customers. From day one you’ll write production-grade code, reason about systems holistically, and make decisions that tie directly to business outcomes. You’ll work closely with product and design, moving fast while upholding a high bar for code quality, scalability, and simplicity.
At the end of the process, you’ll be team-matched to where you can have the most impact, on one of the following:
Talent platform side – building next-generation tools that automate recruiting end-to-end, intelligently match candidates to roles, and power global hiring with seamless contracts and payments.
Applied AI/human data side – partnering with top AI researchers from the AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to create post training datasets to improve foundational model capabilities.
What We’re Looking For
Pursuing a degree in Computer Science or a related field (graduating 2026–2028).
Strong programming skills in Python, Go, or JavaScript.
Understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems
Familiarity with APIs, SQL/NoSQL databases, and cloud platforms
Curiosity and passion for AI and startups
Excited to work in person and thrive in a fast-paced environment
Why Mercor
Impact: Your work powers how AI labs train and deploy their models
Learning: Get early exposure to frontier AI research and engineering
Growth: Work with a high-velocity team where interns ship to production
Benefits
Mentorship from experienced engineers.
Work on real, high-impact projects.
$1.5K monthly stipend for meals
Free Equinox membership
Team events and offsites.
Potential full-time return offer.
Skills
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Market data for software engineer roles
All reports →- Role reportSoftware engineer jobs, Sep 2026: new listings down 9.7%New software engineer listings fell 9.7% to 1,506 this week, the first weekly drop in a month. Prioritize applications while 1,506 fresh roles remain open.
- Salary reportSoftware engineer salary 2026: median midpoint is $190,587The median published range midpoint for US software engineer roles is $190,587, with the middle half from $166,000 to $222,000.
- Market overviewState of tech hiring, September 2026: up 4.8%Tech hiring rose 4.8% month over month in September 2026, with 411,122 new listings. Customer support and account executive roles led the growth.
