Programming Languages Researcher (Research Coding Tasks)
Listing checked October 30, 2026 · pay as published by AfterQuery
Key details
- Pay
- $80/hr
- Location
- Remote
- Job type
- contract
- Posted
- October 29, 2026
Overview
AfterQuery pays researchers to turn their own published work into evaluation tasks for frontier AI agents. You pick a recent programming languages paper with working code, cover compilers, type systems, program synthesis or verification, and remove the code that carries the paper's central result. An agent then has to rebuild that piece and match the authors' numbers on the paper's own benchmarks. Each approved task pays $200 and takes a few hours. The arrangement is fully remote and asynchronous, so you choose when to work.
What You'll Do8
- Select a recent paper with released code, your own where possible, and isolate the contribution a task can rebuild.
- Strip out the implementation behind that contribution and package the remaining repo as an agent starting point.
- Write the task statement so an agent knows what to rebuild and which measured numbers count as success.
- Define held-out workloads and per-metric pass thresholds for grading.
- Build a hidden reference solution that restores the paper's reported results.
- Add a second solution that clears the threshold, proving the bar can be beaten.
- Review agent attempts on your task and record where each one broke down.
- Keep benchmarks reproducible, using Docker where it fits the setup.
Requirements6
- Published research in programming languages at venues such as PLDI, POPL, OOPSLA, ICFP or CAV, or comparable work.
- Released code for at least one paper, with a GitHub or artifact link you can share.
- PhD in computer science or a related field, completed or in progress.
- First-author papers that report measured improvement over a baseline (preferred).
- Comfort with Docker and benchmark setups other people can reproduce (preferred).
- Depth in compilers, type systems, program synthesis, verification or SAT/SMT solving.
Who Should Apply
A PhD-level programming languages researcher or research engineer who both publishes and ships code. You fit best if you hold a first-author paper with a measured win over a baseline and a repo an outside reader can run from a clean checkout.
Salary Insight
The listing quotes $80.00/hr and pays $200 for each approved task, with a task taking a few hours of work. Treat the per-task fee as your real unit of pay, since a task that needs extra review rounds adds hours without adding pay.
Required skills
How applying works
1. Pre-screen on NearSkill
A quick application on NearSkill checks your fit against this role.
2. Finish on the employer’s site
We hand you to AfterQuery’s official application page to complete the form.
3. Wait for a response
The employer’s hiring team reviews applications and gets back to you.
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