Cloud Engineer - AI

About this role

About the Company

AfterQuery is an expert data and research lab that develops evaluation and training data to help leading AI labs measure and improve their models' performance on real-world professional tasks. The company focuses on exploring the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence through specialized datasets and experimentation. AfterQuery is backed by investors including Y Combinator and Box Group.

About the Role

AfterQuery is seeking experienced Cloud Engineers for independent contract work developing and evaluating cloud infrastructure scenarios used to test AI models. In this role, you will create realistic technical challenges, develop reference solutions, and assess model-generated outputs for accuracy, security, and cost efficiency.

The work focuses on practical cloud engineering knowledge, from architecture design to incident response. Contributors use their professional experience to identify solutions that may appear reasonable but would fail, introduce security risks, or create unnecessary costs in production environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop realistic cloud infrastructure scenarios covering architecture design, automation, and incident response.
• Write reference answers that explain the architectural reasoning behind technical decisions.
• Evaluate AI-generated outputs for technical correctness, security, and cost efficiency.
• Identify configurations that appear plausible but would fail in production or lead to unnecessary spending.
• Apply practical cloud engineering experience to assess infrastructure designs and automation approaches.
• Document architectural decisions and operational reasoning clearly.

Required Qualifications

• At least two years of professional cloud engineering experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Hands-on experience with infrastructure as code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar technologies.
• Strong practical knowledge in at leas...