Information Retrieval Engineer

This description is a summary of our understanding of the job description. Click on 'Apply' button to find out more. Role Description This role involves designing indexing, ranking, and evaluation pipelines that combine traditional IR methods with neural re-rankers. You’ll build scalable, low-latency search systems capable of serving massive text corpora with high relevance and reliability. Design and implement hybrid IR systems that blend traditional retrieval methods with neural re-rankers. Build and optimize indexing and ranking pipelines using Elasticsearch/OpenSearch and FAISS. Develop neural re-rankers with Hugging Face Transformers and PyTorch. Combine BM25, TF-IDF, and neural models into hybrid search frameworks. Design and implement evaluation pipelines to benchmark retrieval performance. Optimize systems for low-latency performance at scale. Collaborate with researchers and engineers to integrate IR pipelines into production AI systems. Qualifications Background in computer science, information retrieval, or data engineering. Proficient with Elasticsearch/OpenSearch for indexing and querying large text stores. Experience with neural search and reranking using FAISS, Hugging Face, and PyTorch. Understanding of traditional IR methods such as BM25 and TF-IDF and how to integrate them with modern ML approaches. Ability to design low-latency pipelines that serve results efficiently at scale. Comfortable working with pandas for data analysis and building evaluation workflows. Experience integrating pipelines into systems via REST APIs. Requirements Passion for search, large-scale systems, and the intersection of IR and machine learning. Benefits Part-time (20–30 hrs/week) with flexible hours—work from anywhere, on your schedule. Weekly Bonus of $500–$1000 USD per 5 tasks. Remote and flexible working style. Why This Role Is Exciting You’ll shape the next generation of search and retrieval systems. You’ll apply both traditional IR methods and state-of-the-art neural re-rankers. You’ll work on massive-scale text datasets with real-world impact. You’ll operate at the intersection of search, machine learning, and large-scale systems engineering. Pay & Work Structure You’ll be classified as an hourly contractor to Mercor. Paid weekly via Stripe Connect, based on hours logged.