Cybersecurity Practitioner: Paid Expert Interviews (SOC, Incident Response, Detection, AppSec)
About the work Mercor is designing a benchmark that measures how well AI agents do real enterprise cyber defense work.
- Pay
- Firm hourly pay: $125-$175 per hour
- Location
- United States (remote)
- Eligibility
- Remote; check the U.S. location wording
- Qualification difficulty
- Selective
How current is this information?
The public role and application path were checked. Details can still change; this is not an endorsement or guarantee.
- Platform
- Mercor
- Fit category
- Software engineering
- Listing/source checked
- Sep 26, 2026
- Inventory presence checked
- Sep 27, 2026
- Apply link checked
- Sep 24, 2026
Application
Continue to the current Mercor listing
Apply on MercorOpens the current Mercor page in a new tab. This may be a referral link, and Specialist AI Work may be paid if the platform credits it. That does not change the role's advertised pay or how roles are ordered here.
What this role involves
About the work Mercor is designing a benchmark that measures how well AI agents do real enterprise cyber defense work. Before we build it, we want to hear from people who do that work every day. This is a short paid research engagement, not a task or data project. You will join two to three one-hour video conversations with the Mercor team over roughly four weeks, scheduled around your availability.
What we will talk about How your work actually happens: the tools you live in, what lands in your queue, where judgment matters and where it does not. How your team measures whether a triage, investigation, containment, hunt, detection rule or patch was done well. Where AI assistance helps you today, where it gets in the way, and what would make a benchmark of AI on this work credible to you. Our draft task taxonomy: what is missing, what is mislabeled, what you would weight differently.
Who we are looking for Current or recent hands-on practitioners in enterprise security, for example: SOC analysts and SOC leads (tier 2 and above) Incident responders and digital forensics investigators Detection engineers and threat hunters Application security or product security engineers who find and fix vulnerabilities in production code Security engineers who have run or been on the receiving end of a red team engagement Experience with an EDR and SIEM stack (CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender and Sentinel, Splunk, SentinelOne, Elastic or similar) is a plus.
Security leaders are welcome if you are still close to the work. Pay and time Paid hourly for interview time as a spot bonus. Sessions are one hour; no prep is expected. Two to three sessions in total. Nothing to build, label or submit. Remote, US-based. Confidentiality We will ask you to describe patterns, not specific incidents, and to leave out anything confidential about current or former employers or customers. Your input is used only to design the benchmark and is never attributed to you or your employer.
Before you apply
Review the main fit signals and unresolved details before opening the platform.
Why it may fit
- Professionals whose experience matches the current Cybersecurity Practitioner: Paid Expert Interviews (SOC, Incident Response, Detection, AppSec) requirements.
- Applicants comfortable completing Mercor's role-specific assessment.
Check before applying
Reasons to pause
- You cannot meet the listing's stated remote or location eligibility.
- You need guaranteed acceptance, hours, or project duration.
Still to verify
- Review the official Mercor listing before applying. Requirements, screening, pay, hours, and project availability can change.
- The reviewed listing had limited public detail; check the current platform page for the full requirements.
What to prepare
- Complete Mercor's role-specific application or assessment.
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Application tips
- Complete Mercor's role-specific application or assessment carefully.
- Review the current Mercor listing and its eligibility details before applying.