C++ Backend Engineer - AI Data Platforms

C++ Backend Engineer — AI Data Platforms

About the Role

What if your C++ expertise could directly shape the infrastructure powering the world's most advanced AI systems? We're looking for a Senior C++ Engineer to build and optimize the high-performance data pipelines, annotation tooling, and evaluation systems that leading AI labs depend on to train and ship next-generation models.

This is a fully remote, flexible contract role. You'll work on real production systems — not toy projects — alongside data, research, and engineering teams at the frontier of AI development.

• Organization: Alignerr
• Type: Hourly Contract
• Location: Remote
• Commitment: 20–40 hours/week

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and optimize high-performance C++ systems supporting AI data pipelines and evaluation workflows
• Develop backend services and tooling for large-scale data annotation, validation, and quality control
• Improve reliability, performance, and safety across production C++ codebases
• Identify bottlenecks and edge cases in data and system behavior — then implement scalable, lasting fixes
• Collaborate with research and engineering teams to support model training and benchmarking workflows
• Participate in synchronous design reviews to iterate on architecture and implementation decisions

Who You Are

• Native or fluent English speaker with clear written and verbal communication skills
• 5+ years of professional experience writing production-grade C++
• Strong background in asynchronous network programming — event loops, RPC frameworks, or similar
• Experienced with high-throughput databases or message queues in production environments
• Systems thinker who can hold both low-level performance and high-level architecture in mind at once
• Able to commit 20–40 hours per week with reliability and focus

Nice to Have

• Prior experience with data annotation, data quality pipelines, or evaluation systems
• Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, model training, or benchmarking infrastructure
• Experience with distributed systems design or developer tooling
• Background working directly with AI labs or research-driven engineering teams

Why Join Us

• Work on cutting-edge AI infrastructure alongside leading research labs
• Fully remote and async-friendly — work when and where you're most effective
• Freelance autonomy with the substance of high-impact, production-grade engineering work
• Make a direct, tangible contribution to the AI systems shaping how the world works
• Potential for ongoing work and contract extension as new projects launch