Principal Engineer / Professor — Technical Expert

About the Role

micro1 is looking for principal-level engineers, scientists and faculty to design the hard technical problems that measure what AI systems can really do. The work spans four areas: aerospace, semiconductors, manufacturing and industrial engineering, and materials science. These are problems where the textbook answer is not enough and a plausible-looking solution can be quietly wrong. No prior AI experience is required.

What You'll Do

• Design difficult technical problems from your own area, with realistic constraints and supporting data.
• Write the correct solution and walk through the reasoning that reaches it.
• Define objective criteria for correctness so another expert would reach the same verdict.
• Review problems built by other contributors for technical accuracy and sound method.
• Flag problems that turn out to be ambiguous or ungradable instead of submitting them.

Requirements

• Master's or PhD in engineering, physics, materials or a closely related field.
• Principal, staff or fellow-level industry experience, or a faculty appointment at a leading university.
• Deep technical depth in at least one subdomain, with hands-on ownership of the work.
• Able to explain why an answer is correct clearly enough for another expert to verify it.
• Publications, patents or a record of technical leadership are a strong plus.

Compensation & Logistics

Pay is $80-$185 per hour in the listing text (the structured rate field shows $85-$185) as a contractor. Fully remote, flexible hours that fit alongside your current role. Selection: apply and answer the screening questions, complete the AI interview, profile review, then onboarding with the micro1 Talent Ops team.