Software Expert - Development & Programming

Role Overview: Software Expert - Development & Programming

North Star Staffing is seeking experienced software development professionals to support a high-priority data collection initiative in collaboration with leading AI research labs. This fully remote role focuses on capturing real-world development and programming workflows to help AI systems better understand complex software interfaces, engineering tools, and multi-step technical processes. The work you contribute will directly support the training and evaluation of next-generation AI systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Record screen sessions demonstrating development and programming workflows with clear verbal narration explaining each step.
• Annotate screenshots of professional development software by drawing precise bounding boxes around relevant UI elements.
• Follow provided staging instructions to configure specific UI states prior to recording.
• Use custom capture tools to record workflows accurately and consistently.
• Adhere closely to task guidelines to ensure data quality, consistency, and usability.
• Deliver outputs suitable for large-scale AI research and downstream model training.

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on experience with professional development and programming tools, including: Visual Studio Code, Android Studio, Quartus, VMware.
• High attention to detail and ability to follow precise technical instructions.
• Comfortable working independently and meeting tight deadlines.
• Fluent English communication skills.
• Access to a physical Mac and ability to create a fresh macOS user profile if required.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience with data collection, annotation, or QA work.
• Experience recording or documenting development workflows.
• Comfort working with new tools and staged environments.

Engagement Details

• Fully remote, asynchronous independent contractor role.
• Flexible working schedule.
• Project duration may vary and can be extended, shortened, or concluded based on performance and project needs.
• Work includes screen recording, UI annotation, and workflow documentation.

Compensation & Contract Terms

Hourly compensation aligned with task scope and expertise. Payments issued weekly via Stripe or Wise. Engagement is on an independent contractor basis. No access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution. H1-B and STEM OPT candidates cannot be supported at this time.

Eligibility

Applicants must be legally authorized to work as independent contractors in their country of residence.

About the Client (Mercor)

Mercor partners with leading AI labs and enterprises to train frontier AI systems using real-world human expertise. Contributors collaborate with leading researchers and help shape the next generation of AI capabilities across software, engineering, and technical domains.

Key skills/competency

• Software Development
• Programming Workflows
• UI Annotation
• Data Collection
• AI Systems Training
• Visual Studio Code
• Android Studio
• VMware
• Technical Documentation
• Quality Assurance