Competitive Programming Expert

Mindrift connects specialists with project-based AI opportunities for leading tech companies, focused on testing, evaluating, and improving AI systems. Participation is project-based, not permanent employment. What this opportunity involves: We're building competitive-programming problems and their automatic graders (test cases + checkers) used to train advanced AI coding models. You'll create problems, write both correct and deliberately-wrong solutions, and design the tough test cases that catch subtly-broken code. Your work is what makes the training signal trustworthy. To apply, share: your competitive-programming handle(s) + current/peak rating, any problem-setting experience, and IOI/ICPC/olympiad history. What you'll do: Write original algorithmic problems — clear statement, sound constraints, an intended solution; Write correct solutions in C++ and Python; Write realistic wrong solutions (common mistakes) to test against; Build and harden test cases: generators, edge cases, stress and "hacking" tests; Write checkers/interactors (testlib) for problems with more than one valid answer; Confirm the quality bar: correct solutions pass, wrong ones fail, within time limits. What we look for: Strong competitive programming background, shown by a public profile — a Codeforces rating (see levels below), OR an IOI / ICPC / national-olympiad record; Fluent contest C++ (STL, complexity); comfortable writing Python; Can explain why a solution is wrong and build an input that breaks it; Strong written English (C1+). Levels (by Codeforces rating, or equivalent olympiad achievement): Associate — 1700–2100 (Expert / Candidate Master): easier problems; Expert — 2200–2600 (Master / Grandmaster): harder problems; Senior / Reviewer — 2600+ (Int'l Grandmaster) or IOI/ICPC medalist: hardest problems + quality review. Nice to have: IOI / ICPC alumni and top competitive programmers especially encouraged to apply; Experience setting or testing problems for real contests (Codeforces rounds, ICPC, national olympiads, online judges); Testlib experience (checkers, validators, generators); Experience creating data for LLM code benchmarks or similar RL / evaluation datasets. How it works: Apply → Pass qualification(s) → Join a project → Complete tasks → Get paid. Project time expectations: For this project, tasks are estimated to require around 10-20 hours per week during active phases, based on project requirements. This is an estimate, not a guaranteed workload, and applies only while the project is active. Tasks must be submitted by the deadline and meet the listed acceptance criteria to be accepted. Compensation: Paid per accepted task. Your rate depends on the qualification tier you reach and how efficiently you complete tasks — up to the equivalent of $90/hr. Because payment is per task, a faster pace raises your effective hourly rate.