Expert Software Engineer – Scala / Kotlin / OCaml

**About the Opportunity** A leading AI research organization is evaluating how advanced AI systems perform in specialized engineering domains, and is seeking expert software engineers with deep, hands-on experience in **Scala, Kotlin, and/or OCaml**. You'll apply your expertise to assess complex, real-world technical scenarios — directly shaping how cutting-edge AI performs in these ecosystems. _Single-language specialists are strongly encouraged to apply._ **What You'll Do** - Apply your language expertise to evaluate technical tasks against real-world professional standards - Review intricate code-level situations and provide precise, structured written assessments - Work inside containerized repositories (Docker), running and interpreting programmatic and CI-style checks to judge whether an engineering environment is sound - Provide clear written rationales explaining your expert judgments - Complete well-defined, time-bounded tasks with explicit evaluation criteria **Who We're Looking For** We value strong CS fundamentals, fast ramp-up, and high ownership — engineers who can flex across languages are especially valued, and deep single-language specialists are very welcome. The ideal candidate brings: - **5+ years** of professional software engineering in one or more of: - _Scala_ — functional/OOP JVM development; distributed systems; Spark, Akka, Cats, or ZIO; data engineering contexts - _Kotlin_ — JVM and Android development; coroutines; modern backend services - _OCaml_ — typed functional programming; compilers, tooling, or formal/systems work - Comfort working in **Docker/CI-based repo environments** and reading automated checks — or the ability to ramp on these fast - Ability to articulate not just _what_ code does but _why_ it's correct or idiomatic, clearly in writing - _Welcomed:_ engineers from top product, data, or research engineering backgrounds; non-traditional digital footprints are fine — a GitHub profile is not required **Why This Work Matters** Scala, Kotlin, and OCaml power distributed data systems, modern mobile and backend platforms, and high-assurance software — domains where AI systems still have limited depth. Your assessments directly influence how they learn to operate in them. **Engagement Details** - Compensation: **$120–200/hour**, based on depth and experience - Expected commitment: **20–40 hrs/week** - Task flow is variable — work tends to arrive in waves, and there can be a lag between task batches. We're looking for people who stay flexible, including availability on weekends when needed, and who take ownership of keeping the project moving forward - No proprietary tooling required — tasks are completable without employer-provided systems