Job Description
Data Scientist, AI Trainer (Remote)100% Remote | Part-Time or Full-Time | Freelance Contract | $40 to $125 per hour
Work on your own schedule. Get paid for what you already know.
A leading AI research company that works with large AI companies is seeking experienced data scientists to work as remote AI trainers and evaluate how frontier AI models handle real data science work: an analysis from messy data to a defensible conclusion, an experiment designed and read out correctly, a model built and validated without leakage, and SQL and Python that actually do what was asked. You bring the judgment to know the difference between a result and a real result. This is project-based, fully remote work you can do alongside a current job, including evenings and weekends.
What the Work Involves - Design realistic tasks from your own practice, such as an exploratory analysis from a messy dataset, an A/B test design and readout, a model with validation, a SQL pipeline with data quality checks or a forecast with error analysis
- Author the supporting files a practitioner would use: datasets you construct or anonymize, schemas, notebooks, metric definitions, stakeholder briefs
- Run those tasks through frontier AI models and grade the analysis, code, model, query or write-up they produce
- Compare two model outputs on the same task and document where each fell short
- Write grading rubrics and, where useful, tests covering data quality handling, statistical method, validation and interpretation
- Flag concrete failures: leakage, confounding, wrong joins, misapplied tests, code that runs but does not do what was asked
Areas of ExpertiseYou need depth in at least one of these, plus enough working knowledge of the others to judge work in adjacent areas:
- Product or business analytics and BI
- Applied machine learning
- Statistics and experimentation (A/B testing, causal inference)
- Forecasting
- Analysis-adjacent data engineering
- Applied NLP or computer vision with shipped work
Who This Is For - 2+ years of professional applied data science in industry or research (undergraduate study does not count)
- Degree in a quantitative field; an advanced degree is a plus but optional
- You write, debug and can explain your own Python and/or SQL
- You have owned an analysis end to end, from raw data through to a decision
- Solid grasp of leakage, confounding, selection effects, multiple testing and power
- Independent, consulting and freelance data scientists are an especially strong fit
- Hands-on practitioner: you currently do, or recently did, the work yourself as an individual contributor, not solely as a manager
- Strong written English; you can explain clearly why a result is wrong, not only that it is
- Familiar with AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT, with the judgment to tell a well-reasoned answer from a plausible-sounding wrong one
- Comfortable working independently, following detailed written instructions and incorporating feedback
Pay, Hours and Location - Pay: $40 to $125 per hour, depending on project and expertise. Paid via PayPal on a regular schedule. You are paid for every step you complete
- Hours: Minimum 10 hours per week with no maximum; full-time hours are available. Multi-day task timers let you spread work across days
- Location: Remote. Must be based in the United States, Canada, or the UK
- Tools: Access to the AI models you will evaluate is provided; no personal subscription needed
How to Apply - Apply here with your resume
- We review your background against the role
- If it's a fit, we send you a link to take the client's skills assessment. It's unpaid, takes about 2 to 4 hours and tests domain judgment and careful reading. The assessment must be entirely your own work; AI-assisted submissions are detected and rejected
- If you pass, you complete onboarding and a short training project, then propose and build tasks from your own professional experience, with expert review and written feedback at each stage
Crucial Recruiting and Sidebar Talent are working together on this search on behalf of a client in the AI research space. The client name is confidential and will be shared before any work begins. Questions: nick@crucialrecruiting.com.
Job Tags
Hourly pay, Full time, Contract work, Freelance, Remote work, 10 hours per week, Afternoon shift