Software Engineering Expert

About AfterQuery

AfterQuery is a research lab investigating the boundaries of artificial intelligence through novel datasets and experimentation.

The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator and Box Group, and collaborates with frontier AI labs to advance next-generation intelligent systems.

Role Overview

AfterQuery is seeking Software Engineering Experts for a remote, project-based engineering role focused on solving real-world software development challenges across multiple stacks and applications.

This role is ideal for engineers with 1–3 years of professional experience who enjoy debugging, shipping production-quality code, reviewing implementations, and working across diverse technical environments.

Projects are asynchronous and assigned individually, with flexible scheduling and opportunities to work on meaningful engineering problems across varied domains and technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and ship clean, maintainable, well-tested software
• Work across diverse projects and technology stacks
• Debug, refactor, and optimize existing codebases
• Improve:
• Performance
• Scalability
• Reliability
• Maintainability
• Participate in code reviews and technical feedback cycles
• Collaborate asynchronously on:
• Technical specifications
• Architecture decisions
• Feature implementation plans
• Document:
• APIs
• Code behavior
• Technical workflows
• Engineering approaches
• Contribute to high-quality engineering workflows and development practices

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 1–3 years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language and ecosystem
• Ability to independently:
• Scope tasks
• Implement features
• Deliver fixes
• Debug complex issues
• Strong understanding of:
• Data structures
• Algorithms
• System design fundamentals
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in:
• Computer Science
• Software Engineering
• Related technical discipline
• Or equivalent practical experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience across multiple layers of the stack:
• Frontend
• Backend
• APIs
• Infrastructure
• Familiarity with:
• Git workflows
• CI/CD pipelines
• GitHub Actions
• Collaborative engineering practices
• Exposure to cloud platforms including:
• AWS
• GCP
• Azure
• Experience contributing to:
• Open-source projects
• Independent software projects
• Production engineering systems

Work Details

• Fully remote contractor role
• Flexible asynchronous schedule
• Project-based work over approximately 2–3 weeks
• Expected commitment:
• Approximately 10–20 hours per week
• Opportunity to work on diverse engineering challenges and real-world software systems

Why Join

• Work directly with a YC-backed AI research company
• Gain exposure to cutting-edge AI and software engineering workflows
• Build portfolio experience across diverse codebases and technologies
• Sharpen engineering skills through practical, high-impact development work