Cloud / DevOps Engineer (Infra & IaC)
Company: Mercor · Pay: $75–$110/hr · Location: Remote — Global · Type: full time · Posted: 2026-09-14
Engineering the Backbone of Artificial Intelligence: The Rise of Cloud & DevOps AI Training Roles
The artificial intelligence revolution is no longer just about algorithms, weights, and transformer architectures. Behind every cutting-edge Large Language Model (LLM) and generative AI breakthrough lies an immensely complex, highly resilient cloud and infrastructure ecosystem. As top-tier AI laboratories race to build foundational models from the ground up, the demand for elite cloud architects, reliability specialists, and DevOps professionals has skyrocketed.
Modern engineering talent is increasingly looking beyond rigid, traditional tech employment to find dynamic opportunities that offer top-tier compensation, remote flexibility, and direct involvement in frontier technology. Through platforms like Mercor, premier engineers can step straight into high-impact roles training AI infrastructure. Positions like the Cloud / DevOps Engineer (Infra & IaC) role represent the pinnacle of this shift, offering a lucrative W-2 compensation package ranging from $75 to $110 per hour.
Comprehensive Overview of the Role & Responsibilities
For senior-level cloud, site reliability, and platform engineers seeking a full-time remote commitment of 40 hours per week, this position offers an unmatched intellectual challenge. You will work directly with a leading AI lab’s GenAI team, closing critical knowledge gaps and elevating the quality of training data for AI inference and distributed clusters.
Key Responsibilities:
- Cross-Team Technical Guidance: Partner directly with elite research and engineering teams to bridge knowledge gaps, optimizing model performance around cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes workflows, and Infrastructure-as-Code paradigms.
- Complex Scenario Design: Architect challenging, real-world domain tasks, authoring accurate, structured solutions for cluster failure diagnostics, AWS service integrations, and automation challenges.
- Rigorous Evaluation & Auditing: Review infrastructure engineering tasks and solutions, providing clear, actionable written feedback to ensure supreme technical precision.
- Rubric & Framework Development: Formulate comprehensive evaluation rubrics to assess cluster recovery logic, Infrastructure-as-Code design quality, and CI/CD pipeline reasoning.
Core Qualifications & Technical Requirements
Because these roles contribute directly to training the next generation of enterprise AI infrastructure, the evaluation standards require genuine production-grade expertise rather than theoretical knowledge.
- 4+ Years of Professional Experience: Dedicated background in cloud infrastructure, DevOps, site reliability engineering (SRE), or platform engineering at a recognized organization.
- Deep Kubernetes Mastery: Hands-on production experience operating Kubernetes, including actively diagnosing and repairing cluster failures—not just managing static control planes or manifests.
- Infrastructure-as-Code Proficiency: Demonstrated production-level expertise with Terraform and/or AWS CDK.
- AWS Integration Expertise: Direct, hands-on experience integrating essential AWS services in production environments, including Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB.
- CI/CD Ownership: Proven track record of building, maintaining, and scaling modern continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines.
Additional Expectations: Demonstrable career progression, strong written communication skills, and the availability to commit 40 hours per week during standard US weekdays.
Employment Structure, W-2 Compliance, and Global Stability
Navigating remote contracting can sometimes feel fragmented, but this engagement provides the absolute best of both worlds through a formal partnership with Cincinnatus LLC:
- W-2 Employment via Cincinnatus LLC: Enjoy the professional security of a recognized employer of record, handling complete payroll, statutory compliance, and benefits administration while you work directly with elite AI labs.
- Dedicated Full-Time Schedule: Engage consistently on a 40-hour weekly schedule, aligning your core professional hours with cutting-edge tech innovation teams across the United States.
- Streamlined Hiring Process: Experience a modern recruitment loop designed to eliminate endless multi-round bureaucracy, leveraging Mercor’s streamlined platform to turn one interview into real career momentum.
Why Cloud & DevOps Experts Are Transitioning to AI Training
Traditional corporate engineering roles often trap senior talent in maintenance cycles, legacy refactoring, and corporate bureaucracy. Conversely, participating in AI infrastructure training allows senior practitioners to test the absolute limits of their architectural knowledge. By evaluating how frontier models reason through cluster failures, automated provisioning, and microservice orchestration, you are actively helping shape the automated tools that will define enterprise systems for decades to come.
Furthermore, commanding an hourly rate between $75 and $110 ensures that your specialized time and expertise are compensated at the absolute top of the market—all while enjoying the freedom of working remotely from anywhere in the United States.
Secure Your Place at the Forefront of AI Innovation
Positions involving foundational AI model development and advanced infrastructure evaluation attract intense interest from top-tier engineering talent and fill up rapidly. If you meet the rigorous background requirements in Kubernetes, Terraform, and AWS production environments, now is the time to make your move.
Responsibilities
- Cross-Team Technical Guidance: Partner directly with elite research and engineering teams to bridge knowledge gaps, optimizing model performance around cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes workflows, and Infrastructure-as-Code paradigms.
- Complex Scenario Design: Architect challenging, real-world domain tasks, authoring accurate, structured solutions for cluster failure diagnostics, AWS service integrations, and automation challenges.
- Rigorous Evaluation & Auditing: Review infrastructure engineering tasks and solutions, providing clear, actionable written feedback to ensure supreme technical precision.
- Rubric & Framework Development: Formulate comprehensive evaluation rubrics to assess cluster recovery logic, Infrastructure-as-Code design quality, and CI/CD pipeline reasoning.
Qualifications
- 4+ Years of Professional Experience: Dedicated background in cloud infrastructure, DevOps, site reliability engineering (SRE), or platform engineering at a recognized organization.
- Deep Kubernetes Mastery: Hands-on production experience operating Kubernetes, including actively diagnosing and repairing cluster failures—not just managing static control planes or manifests.
- Infrastructure-as-Code Proficiency: Demonstrated production-level expertise with Terraform and/or AWS CDK.
- AWS Integration Expertise: Direct, hands-on experience integrating essential AWS services in production environments, including Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB.
- CI/CD Ownership: Proven track record of building, maintaining, and scaling modern continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines.