--- title: 'Problem Design Engineer at Widget Factory' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/problem-design-engineer-widget-factory-united-states-t9vs9mhszsdv' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-13' --- # Problem Design Engineer at Widget Factory - **Company:** Widget Factory - **Location:** United States - **Compensation:** $40/hr - **Employment:** part-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2025-10-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/widgetfactory/7602667e-e96a-4333-a1cb-d674f501279f ## Job description ## What We’re Building We create high-quality coding problems for training AI models — drawn from real production repositories, not synthetic puzzles. Your role is to ensure these problems are fair, clear, and technically sound. ## The Role Part-Time Code Quality Reviewer | Remote | $40/hr | 0-25 hrs/week We’re looking for engineers who can trace the intent behind a code change, understand what changes were made and why, and express that clearly in natural language. This is judgment work, not mechanical testing. You'll make philosophical decisions about fairness and clarity in technical contexts. ## What You'll Actually Do - Review code changes across unfamiliar repositories and tech stacks - Assess problem fairness: Could a skilled engineer solve this with only the given context? - Evaluate test quality: Do tests properly validate the intended solution? - Write clear justifications for your assessments (2-3 sentences per decision) - Flag coherence issues: Inconsistent artifacts, unclear requirements, missing context Time commitment: 1-4 hours per problem, fully async — work whenever fits your schedule. Who Should Apply Ideal candidates: - PhD students in CS/computational fields seeking long-term flexible income - Open source contributors who care deeply about code quality - Undergrad with at least 1 year in CS, ECE, Computational Biology, or related technical programs - Professional engineers seeking intellectually interesting part-time work You'll thrive if you: - Have strong software engineering fundamentals - Can work independently with minimal supervision - Write clearly and precisely - Enjoy making judgment calls in ambiguous situations - Stay focused during 1-3 hour review sessions ## Requirements - 1+ years of software engineering experience (internships, research projects, or professional work) - Fluent English; strong writing is a must - Responsive, independent, and attentive to detail - 0–25 hours per week, flexible ## Compensation & Growth - $40/hour for all review work - Performance-based advancement: Top contributors can receive promotions and bonuses - Long-term engagement: We're building a scalable team, not a temporary workforce Application Process - 15-minute async video interview — answer 4 questions about your technical background and work style - Sample problem review — demonstrate your assessment skills on a real coding problem - Onboarding — join our active problem design engineering community and start reviewing FAQ Q: Is this suitable for PhD students? Yes — many of our top contributors are PhD students. The work is fully async and fits around research schedules. Q: Do I need to be available during specific hours? No. Work whenever you want. Some problem design engineers work weekends, others weekday evenings. Q: What if I'm not familiar with the programming language in a problem? That's expected. You're assessing problem fairness and clarity, not implementing solutions. Familiarity with general software engineering principles is what matters. Q: How quickly can I start? If you pass the video interview and sample review, you can start within 1-2 weeks. Q: Is this a path to full-time employment? This is a long-term contract role, not a pipeline to full-time positions. We value contributors who excel at this specific type of work. ## About the Widget Factory The Widget Factory is the quality assurance division of Idler (YC S25), where we ensure coding problems meet research-grade standards for AI training. Our mission is to build the most reliable QA system for AI coding benchmarks. ## About Widget Factory ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Widget Factory is a quality-focused division of Idler (YC S25) that designs production-grade coding problems and tasks to train advanced AI models. - **Entity Type**: Private (YC S25 – seed stage) - **Headquarters**: Remote (United States) - **Founded**: 2025 - **Founders**: Not publicly disclosed ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Software Development / AI Training Data - **Target customers**: AI labs and frontier model developers (B2B), plus part-time coders and domain experts (B2C for workforce) - **Mission**: “Build the environments where advanced AI learns to work” – bringing together engineers, operators, and domain experts to design the tasks and real-world challenges that train frontier models. ## Products & Services - **[Problem Design Engineering]**: Review and create production-grade coding problems (not LeetCode puzzles) to teach AI agents multi-step debugging, long-context reasoning, and practical decision-making. - **[Ambassador Program]**: A referral/recruitment initiative that pays individuals to connect qualified part-time coders with the company ($150–500/month base + per referral incentives). - **[Part-Time Coder Roles]**: $40/hour, fully remote, flexible hours – targeted at undergrads, masters, PhDs, and full-time SWEs who want to shape AI training. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Employee count of 48 (as of mid-2026) with monthly growth of +1.8% - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Idler is a Y Combinator company (YC S25) – no other investors publicly listed - **Growth Signals**: Actively hiring 200+ part-time coders per month; strong applicant reactions on social posts; rapid headcount expansion from 0 to 48 in under a year; domain created in October 2025 ## Competitive Advantages - **Focus on Production-Grade Problems**: Differentiates from basic coding puzzle platforms by emphasizing fairness, clarity, and real-world complexity. - **Parent Backing**: Being a division of Idler (YC-backed) provides structure and credibility in the AI training data space. - **Flexible Scalable Workforce**: Low-cost, remote, part-time model allows rapid scaling of human-in-the-loop data generation. ## Strategic Focus - Scale the part-time coder network to 200+ per month - Expand the Problem Design Engineer team to increase the volume and variety of training tasks - Deepen integration with Idler’s overall AI training pipeline ## Why Work Here - **Remote & Flexible**: Fully remote positions with self-scheduled hours - **Competitive Pay**: $40/hour for part-time coding work (above typical student/contract rates) - **Impact**: Directly shape the reasoning capabilities of frontier AI models - **Culture**: Young, fast-moving startup environment (founded 2025); emphasis on fairness and quality over rote problems - **Career Path**: Opportunity to move from part-time coder into a full-time Problem Design Engineer role ## Sources 1. [widgetfactory.ai](https://widgetfactory.ai) 2. [linkedin.com/company/widgetfactory](https://www.linkedin.com/company/widgetfactory) 3. [torre.ai - WidgetFactory team](https://torre.ai/teams/WidgetFactory) 4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com - Widget Factory Ambassador](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/widgetfactory/b6912cf4-7ad6-4319-82b9-a28e77b23b20) 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com - Problem Design Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/widgetfactory/7602667e-e96a-4333-a1cb-d674f501279f) ## Other roles at Widget Factory - [Widget Factory Ambassador](https://feeny.ai/job/widget-factory-ambassador-widget-factory-united-states-xkxcy0d55gt1) — United States