career-lane: apply queue 2026-10-22 — corrected labels in body cells (N5 pay $60-80/hr on-page; six Turing doors page-titled); 9 new leads added (items 15-23 incl. Surge AI $100-150+/hr); open decisions for Alexander

career-lane/apply-queue-2026-10-22.md

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+# APPLY QUEUE — 2026-10-22 (for Timmy to queue, Alexander submits)
+
+**Authority:** Alexander asked Zeph to send Timmy "everything I can apply for
+today" and have Timmy queue it for Alexander's own submission. Escalation path:
+Zeph → Timmy (pipe) → Alexander (Telegram); Zeph never relays decisions and
+raises nothing in chat. **Rules:** Timmy queues only — never submits, never
+creates accounts, never contacts anyone on Alexander's behalf. He carries the
+open questions below to Alexander DIRECTLY via Telegram. Materials are
+public-safe (professional name only; no email, phone, or private facts).
+Supersedes apply-queue-2026-10-21.md. Compiled by Zephyrus Sparkborn,
+2026-10-22 ~13:15Z. Liveness verified from a clean external network unless
+marked otherwise.
+
+**Corrections folded into the body this tick (append-only history preserved in
+daily-2026-10-21.md's corrections section):** N5 Alignerr pay is **$60–80/hr
+on the page header** (my 10-20/10-21 "unstated" was wrong; third-party
+$60–120 range dropped); the six corroborated Turing doors now carry their
+**page-title labels** (reply-78 table), not feed labels — `HI7GzvKjPF` is
+"Senior Python Engineer – AI Agents Evaluation" (not "GenAI Security");
+`Xqiv8zPNaw` is the actual GenAI Security door.
+
+## Pipeline tally
+**11 submitted / 2 interviews / 0 offers / 2 rejections.** No door closed,
+no new submissions, no ATS drift.
+
+## Queue order (by conversion speed)
+
+### 1. "Senior Software Engineer – AI Evaluation / Coding Agents" — TURING DOOR ONLY ⭐ APPLY-READY, best-structured interview this month
+- URL: https://work.turing.com/r/bs71Txx0ar (LIVE, full copy re-read 2026-10-22)
+- The 24-MAG careers-page door is CLOSED (genuine 404, two hosts, 10-21). The
+  project is the same one (word-for-word dedupe verified by Timmy); only the
+  Turing door remains.
+- Terms: freelance/contract, remote North America only, 20–40 hrs/week with
+  ≥6 hrs/day PT overlap (~3–9pm ET — lifestyle call), ~3-month project, start
+  ASAP. **Pay: $100–150/hr — the form asks for a specific rate expectation,
+  so the number is a concrete decision.**
+- Work: review AI-generated code, design rubrics and acceptance criteria,
+  repo-level analysis, eval-infrastructure pipelines. Two years of Alexander's
+  daily Q-audit work, nearly verbatim.
+- Interview (three stages, from the live page): ~25-min AI interview →
+  ~30-min practical (reviewing AI-generated code, not algorithms) → ~20-min
+  hiring-manager chat.
+- Gates: 5+ years hands-on SE, Python listed FIRST among languages (no
+  React/Node hard requirement), code review, written communication, modern LLM
+  tooling; "LLM evaluation or coding-agent experience is advantageous." **No
+  degree requirement anywhere.** Named gap (not hidden): the 24-MAG page's
+  "GitHub-based development workflows" line — his public review work lives on
+  Gitea; name it in the application, don't hide it. Five of six gates clear.
+- Caveats: the page mentions TypeScript/JavaScript, Go, Java among skills —
+  none is a hard requirement, but Alexander knows his denialist lines. First
+  stage is an AI interview, so the standing rule applies: **pause ALL Mac
+  automations before it** (pre-flight procedure: `interview-preflight-24mag.md`).
+- **Paste-ready pitch (public-safe):**
+
+> I'm Alexander Payne, a senior backend engineer (Python) contracting
+> independently. For the last two years my day job has been directing and
+> evaluating AI coding agents end to end on real repositories: reviewing
+> generated implementations for correctness, robustness, and maintainability;
+> designing the acceptance criteria and rubrics the evaluations run on; and
+> making release decisions on agent output at the diff level. Underneath that,
+> 5+ years of production Python — Django, Flask, REST APIs, PostgreSQL,
+> Docker, CI/CD — so I judge generated code the way someone who has shipped
+> it does: by reading it, running it, and checking the tests. I'm comfortable
+> cloning an unfamiliar repo, reading its architecture cold, and writing up
+> exactly where the model went wrong and why. Remote, US-based, available to
+> start immediately, fine with the PT overlap.
+
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER (Timmy to ask directly):** go or no-go on the Turing
+  door, and his rate inside $100–150.
+
+### 2. Data Annotation — "Software Engineer"
+- URL: https://dataannotation.tech/job-board/software-engineer (LIVE 2026-10-22, 200 after redirect)
+- Terms: remote, weekly payouts. Pay: **Up to $150+/hr** depending on task
+  difficulty and specialization. **No degree required.**
+- Work: run agentic coding sessions on real engineering tasks, analyze what
+  the models produce, red-team them until they fail in interesting ways.
+  Distinct door from the Backend Engineer track.
+
+### 3. OpenTrain — "Backend Coding Task & Verifier Specialist"
+- URL: https://www.opentrain.ai/jobs/backend-coding-task-and-verifier-specialist--cmu9linxg000o0bgm9xiw33b9/ (LIVE 2026-10-22, 200)
+- Terms: remote, US-eligible, ~15 flexible hrs/week, mid-senior.
+- Pay: **$30–100/hr equivalent, paid per task.**
+- Work: create backend coding tasks and deterministic verifiers for AI
+  systems. Python listed first. Modest pay, clean fit.
+
+### 4. Terac — "Software Engineers: Paid Code Review for AI Agent Evaluation"
+- URL: https://terac.com/opportunities/XJ4I47Bp6ExVHmNY (LIVE, full copy re-rendered 2026-10-22; published 2026-10-02)
+- Terms: remote, hourly. Pay: **$65/hr** (Timmy's on-page read 10-21, Documented). "15 spots left" badge remains client-side-only — carried as my live-browser read, not a verified count.
+- **NEW named contact:** Zachary "Zac" Baker, Co-Founder & CEO (co-founded 2025 with Jack Blair; source: greenbook.org/company/Terac directory; public business line +1 (703) 405-1525; careers@terac.com held). He reaches out.
+
+### 5. micro1 — Senior SWE ($245–280/hr)
+- URL: https://jobs.micro1.ai/post/3d79ba82-926b-48c0-9d15-8791a364ea81 (LIVE 2026-10-22, 200)
+- Terms: remote contractor. "Apply now" renders; published 2026-08-27.
+- Still needs Alexander's authorization before any account starts.
+
+### 6. Vettedlance — "Senior SWE, Agentic Coding Evaluation"
+- URL: https://vettedlance.com/jobs/senior-software-engineer-agentic-coding-eval (LIVE 2026-10-22, 200)
+- Terms: hourly contractor, remote flexible PT, 10–40 h/wk, weekly USD.
+- Pay: **$80–120/hr.** "Hiring now." Paid coding assessment before project
+  work. "Vettedlance never charges candidates" (free-tier rule holds).
+
+### 7. Askable — "Software Engineer, AI Coding Tasks"
+- URL: https://www.askable.com/experts/roles/senior-software-engineer (LIVE 2026-10-22, 200)
+- Terms: contract after paid technical task; remote, any location; ≥10 h/wk.
+- Pay: **US$1,000 per accepted task** (not hourly).
+- Gate: code you own merged into a public open-source repository
+  (employer/client code excluded). **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** does he have
+  qualifying OSS work?
+- **NEW named contact:** John Goleby, Co-Founder & CEO of Askable (Brisbane; US/UK/Chicago offices; $22M AirTree-led Series A 2026 — sources: devopsdigest.com/askable-joins-vendor-forum, thebusinessfrontier.com, cmotech.uk; all 2026). The funnel is self-serve, but he can go direct on the OSS-gate question. He reaches out.
+
+### 8. Turing M2 — "Senior SWE – Python (LLM Evaluation & Repository Validation)"
+- URL: https://work.turing.com/r/C94ooVlx1g (LIVE, full copy re-read 2026-10-22)
+- Terms: contractor, remote, 4–8 weeks, ≥4 h/day (20 h/wk) with 4 h PST overlap.
+- Gates verbatim: degree line, "Minimum 8 years … in leading product companies
+  or technology startups", Python mandatory + Java/Go/C++. **OPEN FOR
+  ALEXANDER:** go/no-go + rate.
+
+### 9. Turing N2 — "Senior SWE – LLM Evaluation (US-based)"
+- URL: https://work.turing.com/r/b9OgTSjjGs (LIVE, full copy re-read 2026-10-22)
+- Terms: contractor (no medical/paid leave), US-based required, 10–40 h/wk
+  flexible, 1 month (+ext). AI video interview required.
+- Fit: code curation "primarily in Python", agent/verification-tooling work,
+  3+ yrs. **Caveat:** additional work in JavaScript (incl. ReactJS), C/C++,
+  Java, Rust, Go (on-page) — denialist risk.
+- **New on-page data point (10-22):** "Ideal Background" section names
+  frontier-AI employers (OpenAI/NVIDIA/Databricks/Palantir/Snowflake) and
+  "especially welcome" CS programs (UW/UIUC/UT Austin/Michigan/Purdue) —
+  "though exceptional experience and skill always take precedence over
+  pedigree." Flagged as a funnel signal, **not** a hard gate.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 10. micro1 — "Junior SWE" ($150–200/hr) — NEW LEAD 2026-10-21
+- URL: https://jobs.micro1.ai/post/29ba0d51-2d9f-412e-ad19-5f28a76ca96e (LIVE, detail page read 10-21)
+- Terms: contractor, remote (no country restriction stated), top-band pay **$150–200/hr**.
+- Work: evaluate AI-generated code; write challenging coding problems, reference solutions, test cases; review model reasoning; technical feedback. In-lane.
+- Gates: "Junior" is platform wallpaper (Oct-15 OpenTrain precedent); preferred quals (1+ yr SWE at top tech co, English-speaking-country base, clear written communication) — all cleared by Alexander; **no degree gate on page**. Output-based per-task pay with minimum weekly submissions may apply — treat the band as nominal until the application page is read.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** queue-add his call.
+
+### 11. Alignerr N5 — "Senior Machine Learning Engineer" ($60–80/hr ON PAGE)
+- URL: https://www.alignerr.com/jobs/20c08939-56c2-4351-a47a-efcdf022eca5 (LIVE; pay Documented from the page header by Timmy 10-21: "Senior Machine Learning Engineer $60-80/hr Remote Freelance CODING")
+- Terms: hourly contract, remote, 10–40 h/wk, fully async.
+- Work: LLM training/eval data authoring — reasoning traces, model-failure analysis; adjacent to the AI-eval seat. No LinkedIn/degree required per listing.
+- Caveats: framed for ML practitioners; pay below the top band.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+- Direct lane stays weak (self-serve funnel; Labelbox CEO Manu Sharma named-only).
+
+### 12. Terac — "Part-Time Full-Stack Engineers: Farm-Data Platform Development" ($39/hr)
+- URL: https://terac.com/opportunities/EW5rvZqnDf0sO6qQ (carried-live from 10-21; pay Documented $39/hr on page)
+- Terms: independent contractor, remote any timezone, ~15 h/wk, 1+ year engagement, weekly pay.
+- Work: production backend/data-platform delivery. **Caveat:** below band; agritech; Terac apply flow includes "Connect your profiles" + ID verification — LinkedIn may be requested at signup.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 13. micro1 — "Open Source Contributor (GitHub)" ($100–150/hr)
+- Corroborated LIVE 10-21 via six mirrors (canonical URL malformed; true UUID unresolved).
+- Terms: global remote contractor, ~15 h/wk, flexible; ~100 openings.
+- Gates: public/verifiable GitHub profile with meaningful ownership; Alexander's public review work lives on Gitea — the standing GitHub gate gap. Compensation per-task with minimum weekly submissions — treat band as nominal.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** queue-add his call (pending the GitHub-gate honest read).
+
+### 14. Corroborated Turing doors — all LIVE (Timmy's host, reply 78, 10-21) — weighable now
+- r/Y74n4sPVv9 — **Senior Software Engineer – LLM Evaluation**: 10–40 h/wk, contractor, 1 mo, partial PST overlap. **No $ on page.**
+- r/HI7GzvKjPF — **Senior Python Engineer – AI Agents Evaluation**: full-time contractual, 40 h/wk, 1 mo, remote. **No $ on page.** (Label corrected — not GenAI Security.)
+- r/CUZsKnwt7P — **Agentic Coding Evaluation Specialist (Contract)**: **"Compensation: $75/hour"**, ~2–4 weeks (+ ext).
+- r/JHrOLgPhXZ — **Senior Backend Engineer (Python/FastAPI) – AI Evaluation (US-based)**: 10–40 h/wk, contractor, 1 mo. **No $ on page.**
+- r/Xqiv8zPNaw — **GenAI Security Evaluation Engineer**: **"Pay up to $150/hr depending on internal evaluation and location"**, freelance/remote/contractor, up to 2 weeks. (The actual GenAI-Security door.)
+- r/alSSk0vX2k — **Senior Software Engineer – LLM Evaluation (US/Canada/WEU)**: 10–40 h/wk, contractor, 1 mo. **No $ on page.**
+- Four doors state no figure — weigh on fit, not pay.
+
+## UNVERIFIED this tick (hold, do not queue)
+- micro1 Senior Platform Engineer re-post: still absent from the board (JS shell; mirrors only) — stays dropped, watching for a re-post.
+
+## DROPPED
+- **24-MAG careers-page door — CLOSED 2026-10-21** (live-browser 404 + Timmy's host 404). The project continues via item 1 (Turing door).
+
+## Open decisions (for Alexander, via Timmy on Telegram — NOT via Zeph)
+1. Item 1 (Turing door, $100–150/hr project): go/no-go + his rate number.
+2. Item 8 (Turing M2): go/no-go + rate (carried from 10-13 — still unanswered).
+3. Item 9 (N2): take or pass (React caveat + new pedigree-language note).
+4. Item 5 (micro1 $245–280/hr): authorization to start the candidate account + AI interview + skill assessments.
+5. Item 7 (Askable): does he have qualifying OSS-merged work — and whether to go direct via John Goleby.
+6. Item 11 (N5 Alignerr MLE, $60–80/hr on page): take or pass.
+7. Item 4 (Terac $65/hr): window open — and whether to go direct via Zachary Baker.
+8. Item 10 (micro1 "Junior SWE" $150–200/hr): queue-add his call.
+9. Item 12 (Terac $39/hr farm-data): take or pass (below band).
+10. Item 13 (micro1 OSS Contributor $100–150/hr): queue-add his call (GitHub-gate honest read).
+11. Item 14 (six corroborated doors): weigh on fit now that liveness is Documented.
+
+## New lead-grade items 10-22 (scout + corroborated top two by my reads)
+
+### 15. Surge AI — "Senior Software Engineer: Agentic Coding RL Environments" ($100–150+/hour) ⭐ NEW TOP FIND
+- URL: https://surgehq.ai/swe (LIVE, full copy re-read by me 2026-10-22; scout instrument corroborates)
+- Terms: fully remote contractor, 20–40+ hrs/week, choose-your-schedule, async Slack, own equipment.
+- Pay: **$100–$150+/hour on page** ("Pay scales with your expertise"; "Some projects go well past the top of that range"; header "Make $200–300k+/year").
+- Work: build coding RL environments and benchmarks for frontier labs; review & red-team model output; write tests, rubrics, success criteria; structured feedback that improves future models.
+- Gates: professional SWE experience shipping scaled production systems; strong judgment about good code and model failures; expertise in at least one common stack incl. Python; **no AI/ML background required, no degree, no LinkedIn.**
+- Process: 2-hour coding capability screen → ID verification → paid first task.
+- Fit: near-perfect lane match — his 2-year agent-directing/eval background maps 1:1 (this is the work he does daily on the archive audits).
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** go or no-go + whether to start the 2-hour coding screen.
+
+### 16. workfindy.com — "Senior AI Engineer (Contract)" ($100–150/hr)
+- URL: https://workfindy.com/jobs/8f257919-3692-4422-ba07-60e05805ce8a (LIVE, full copy re-read by me 2026-10-22)
+- Terms: contractor, remote US/Canada, ≥20 h/wk + 4 h PT overlap, 3-month contract, start soon; no medical/paid leave.
+- Pay: **$100–$150/hr USD** (on-page).
+- Work: build data pipelines, review AI outputs, develop quality criteria; "a significant part of the role is being able to explain *why* one response is better than another."
+- Gates: 5+ yrs Python/TS/JS/Go; hands-on AI preference data or eval rubrics; US/Canada-based; no LinkedIn, no pay-to-evaluate. Published 2026-10-05T16:44:58Z.
+- **Caveat: employer unnamed — apply by "DM the poster"** (conversion risk).
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 17. Turing — "Senior Python Engineer – LLM Evaluation" (US-based) (L2)
+- URL: https://work.turing.com/r/HfWfAxm6VX (rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: remote contractor, US-based, 10–40 h/wk, 1 mo +ext; pay not stated.
+- Work: Python-primary eval + verification tooling; 3+ yrs SWE; AI video interview required.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 18. Turing — "Software Engineer – AI Research & Evaluation" (US-based) (L3)
+- URL: https://work.turing.com/r/7XiC0Ev2xx (rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: same engagement shape; pay not stated.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 19. Turing — "Senior Python Engineer – LLM Evaluation" (systems emphasis) (L4)
+- URL: https://work.turing.com/r/3tkNgppkIt (rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: same engagement shape; pay not stated; systems/infra bent — Go/Rust/C++ named but Python first, no hard ownership demanded.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 20. Alignerr — "Senior SWE — Agentic Coding" (L6)
+- URL: https://www.alignerr.com/jobs/5c4ccb04-ae5e-4274-8a60-6262aa3cb81f (rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: hourly contract, remote, 10–40 h/wk; pay not stated. Caveat: intro copy mentions "Berlin" though terms say Remote.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 21. Alignerr — "Senior SWE — AI Evaluation & Benchmarks" (L7)
+- URL: https://www.alignerr.com/jobs/f15503d4-74ca-41f3-87e2-e7ccdc39beae (rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: hourly, remote, 3-month; pay not stated. Caveat: "proven LLM benchmark design experience" strongly worded.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 22. Alignerr — "Software Engineer - Python (Advanced)" (L8)
+- URL: https://www.alignerr.com/jobs/c6185f8a-b748-46b5-9e7a-57e0f652356b (rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: hourly, remote, 10–40 h/wk; pay not stated. Caveat: "consulting/client-facing experience" must-have; AI-code eval is nice-to-have, not core.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** take or pass.
+
+### 23. Handshake AI — AI Trainer (filler-hours track) (L9)
+- URL: https://joinhandshake.com/ai/opportunities (canonical program page rendered open today, scout instrument)
+- Terms: independent contractor (not FT), fully remote, ~5–20 h/wk when assigned, year-round; pay not stated. 4+ yrs SWE, US-eligible, no LinkedIn/degree mandate.
+- **OPEN FOR ALEXANDER:** worth a profile, his call.