Principal Systems Engineer (C++) - AI Infrastructure

Principal Systems Engineer (C++) — AI Infrastructure
About The Role
What if your C++ skills could directly influence the infrastructure powering the world's most advanced AI systems? We're looking for a Principal Systems Engineer to design and build the high-performance pipelines, tooling, and evaluation systems that leading AI labs depend on to train and ship next-generation models.
This is a fully remote contract role working on real production systems at the frontier of AI development. If you thrive on complex technical problems, care deeply about performance and reliability, and want your work to matter — this is the role for you.
Organization: Alignerr
Type: Hourly Contract
Location: Remote
Commitment: 20–40 hours/week
What You'll Do
Design, build, and optimize high-performance C++ systems supporting large-scale AI data pipelines and evaluation workflows
Develop full-stack tooling and backend services for data annotation, validation, and quality control at scale
Improve reliability, performance, and memory safety across production C++ codebases
Collaborate closely with data, research, and engineering teams to support model training and evaluation infrastructure
Identify bottlenecks and edge cases in system and data behavior — then implement scalable, lasting fixes
Participate in synchronous design reviews to iterate on architecture and implementation decisions with sharp, experienced teammates
Who You Are
Native or fluent English speaker with clear written and verbal communication skills
Full-stack developer with a strong systems programming background
5+ years of professional experience writing production C++ for large-scale systems
Deep knowledge of build system architecture and package management strategies
Experienced designing reliable systems with rigorous error handling and memory sanitizers
Comfortable committing 20–40 hours per week to a focused, high-output contract engagement
Nice to Have
Prior experience with data annotation, data quality pipelines, or AI evaluation systems
Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, model training, or benchmarking infrastructure
Experience with distributed systems or developer tooling
Why Join Us
Work directly with leading AI labs on production systems that power frontier model development
Fully remote and flexible — work from wherever you do your best thinking
Freelance autonomy with the structure and direction of high-impact, task-based engineering work
Collaborate with top-tier engineers and researchers on problems that genuinely matter
Potential for ongoing work and contract extension as new projects launch

Work arrangement
Yes