Remote | Backend Security Engineer — \$30–\$100/hour

About the position

We are sharing a specialised consulting opportunity for experienced Backend Security Engineers with strong expertise in backend development, secure coding, application security, penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, debugging, and software quality to contribute to an advanced AI training and software-engineering evaluation project. Selected professionals will create realistic coding tasks involving feature implementation, bug fixing, and security-sensitive backend scenarios, while building deterministic verifiers that distinguish valid solutions from incorrect or unsafe implementations. No prior experience in AI is required.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate backend services using Java, Node.js, Go, Rust, TypeScript, Python, C++, or similar languages
• Apply secure-coding principles across realistic software-engineering scenarios
• Review backend architectures for reliability, scalability, and security
• Identify implementation choices that introduce operational or security risk
• Apply strong engineering judgement across production-style codebases
• Evaluate code for application-security weaknesses and vulnerable patterns
• Apply experience with penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, and security reviews
• Identify issues aligned with common OWASP and CWE categories
• Assess whether proposed solutions introduce exploitable behaviour or unsafe assumptions
• Provide clear technical reasoning around identified security issues
• Design challenging coding tasks involving feature implementation and bug fixes
• Define clear technical requirements, constraints, and expected behaviours
• Implement robust features within existing or unfamiliar codebases
• Ensure tasks allow reasonable valid implementation approaches
• Apply algorithms, data structures, and sound software-engineering principles
• Diagnose complex software defects and identify root causes
• Resolve bugs and system bottlenecks across varied backend systems
• Refactor existing code to improve clarity, maintainability, and reliability
• Optimise performance while preserving correct system behaviour
• Validate changes through automated testing and structured technical review
• Build deterministic verifiers for coding tasks and submitted solutions
• Ensure verification accepts valid implementations while rejecting incorrect outputs
• Develop tests covering expected behaviour, edge cases, and failure conditions
• Review code for correctness, maintainability, performance, and security
• Document technical reasoning and evaluation decisions clearly

Requirements

• Strong professional experience in backend software engineering
• Expertise in Java, Node.js, Go, Rust, TypeScript, Python, C++, or a comparable language
• Proven experience building scalable services and APIs
• Strong background in secure coding, application security, or SecOps
• Experience with penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, or security audits
• Familiarity with OWASP, CWE, and common software-security weaknesses
• Strong debugging, automated-testing, and performance-optimisation skills
• Experience implementing complex features in production codebases
• Strong code-review instincts and attention to software quality
• Experience refactoring mature or large-scale systems
• Solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, and core computer-science concepts
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and technical communication skills
• Ability to work independently and apply professional judgement without outside assistance

Nice-to-haves

• No prior experience in AI is required.

Benefits

• Independent contractor engagement
• Fully remote
• Flexible schedule; contributors may choose their working hours and days, including weekends