Open Source Contributor (GitHub)
Global | Fully Remote | Contractor
Approximately 15 hours/week
Flexible schedule | Weekends if needed
Annualized Equivalent: $208,000–$312,000/year based on 40 hours/week
Hourly Rate: $100–$150/hour
Compensation is output-based and paid per task that meets project specifications. Actual earnings depend on task complexity, completion time, experience, and workflow.
About the Role
Apply your open-source software engineering expertise to challenging development, debugging, repository exploration, system architecture, and code evaluation work supporting next-generation AI systems.
This role is designed for engineers with meaningful contributions to established open-source projects or ownership of repositories that demonstrate substantial engineering ability. You’ll work across unfamiliar codebases, implement and debug software, investigate complex issues, develop tests, and evaluate AI-generated code.
Candidates should be prepared to discuss specific repositories, pull requests, issues, and code they personally authored.
No prior AI experience is required. Your software engineering and open-source experience are what matter most.
Key Responsibilities
Repository Exploration & Software Development
Explore and understand unfamiliar software repositories.
Implement, modify, and debug front-end and back-end components.
Work within existing architectures and established contribution standards.
Develop solutions that integrate cleanly with existing codebases.
Debugging & Technical Problem Solving
Trace data and execution across interfaces, services, libraries, APIs, databases, and external dependencies.
Reproduce software issues and identify their underlying causes.
Diagnose complex technical problems across unfamiliar systems.
Implement reliable solutions while preserving existing project architecture.
Testing & Quality
Write and maintain unit tests.
Develop integration and regression tests.
Create end-to-end tests where appropriate.
Validate software behavior and implementation quality.
Review AI-generated patches for correctness, completeness, security, and maintainability.
Open-Source Collaboration
Contribute meaningful engineering work to open-source projects.
Work with established project structures, standards, and contribution practices.
Demonstrate and discuss personally authored code, pull requests, issues, and repository contributions.
Required Skills & Experience
A public or otherwise verifiable GitHub profile.
Meaningful ownership of or contributions to one or more open-source repositories.
Demonstrated software-engineering experience in one or more substantial technical areas, including:
Front-end engineering
Back-end engineering
Full-stack development
Systems engineering
Developer tooling
Infrastructure
Other substantial software-engineering disciplines
Experience working with multiple programming languages.
Ability to understand, navigate, and modify unfamiliar codebases.
Strong debugging and technical problem-solving skills.
Ability to implement software within existing architectural and contribution standards.
Ability to write and evaluate software tests.
Strong understanding of software correctness, maintainability, and security.
Programming Languages
Relevant experience may include:
TypeScript
JavaScript
Python
Java
Go
Rust
C++
C#
Ruby
PHP
Other languages used in substantial open-source projects
What Demonstrates Strong Open-Source Experience
Meaningful contributions may include:
Feature development
Bug fixes
Architecture or system improvements
Substantial code contributions
Repository ownership or maintenance
Pull requests involving meaningful engineering work
Complex issue resolution
Contributions consisting only of documentation updates, dependency bumps, formatting changes, or minor typo corrections do not meet the intended level of engineering experience for this role.
Compensation
Annualized Equivalent: $208,000–$312,000/year based on 40 hours/week
Hourly Rate: $100–$150/hour
Compensation is output-based, with payment made per task that meets project specifications.
Time required per task may vary based on experience and workflow.
Minimum submission requirements apply, including a minimum number of tasks per week.
The annualized figure is an hourly-equivalent reference and not a guaranteed annual salary.
Schedule & Role Details
Role Type: Contractor
Location: Global, fully remote
Typical commitment: Approximately 15 hours/week
Schedule: Flexible—you choose your working hours and days.
Weekend work may be required depending on project activity.
AI experience: Not required.
Selection Process
Apply and complete the screening questions.
Complete an approximately 30-minute AI interview.
Complete the hiring manager review.
Start Timeline
Selected candidates should be ready to begin immediately and are expected to start their first tasks within 24–48 hours of completing onboarding.