IT Support Specialist Expert
AfterQuery • Remote
Education
Not stated
Type
Hourly
Pay
$63/hr equivalent
AfterQuery pays per task and shows the pay as an hourly rate.
Last checked
3d ago
Checked
About this role
From the AfterQuery listing
IT support specialists to build the troubleshooting scenarios frontier AI labs use to test model judgment.
AfterQuery builds the expert evaluation data that frontier AI labs use to measure and improve their models. We're hiring IT support specialists as contractors to author and grade the troubleshooting scenarios those evaluations run on.
### What you'll actually do
- Author realistic IT support scenarios, from first contact through diagnosis and resolution
- Write reference answers with the diagnostic reasoning behind each step
- Grade model output for technical accuracy and user safety
- Flag advice that reads plausible but would make the problem worse
### Who this is for
- Specialists with at least 2 years in IT support, help desk, or system administration
- Practitioners with hands on experience in enterprise environments such as Active Directory, Microsoft 365, or MDM tools
- Troubleshooters with depth across hardware, software, and networking issues
- Clear writers who can document the reasoning behind a diagnostic decision
### Contract and pay
- $45 to $80/hr, paid weekly via Stripe. Your rate is set from your experience, not negotiated down after you start.
- Fully remote, fully async. No fixed hours.
- Minimum 10 hours per week, no maximum. Scale up or down week to week.
- No screen recording, no keystroke monitoring, no idle timers.
- Independent contractor. Ongoing project work rather than single task batches.
### How our hiring process works
- Apply at /apply/it-support-specialist-expert. About five minutes. Resume plus a few structured questions.
- Resume review. Every application gets read against a published rubric and gets a decision.
- Written assessment. You may be asked to take a written assessment for further placement.
- Onboarding. Sign the contractor agreement, connect Stripe, and get platform access.
- Project match. You're matched to live work in your specialty, usually within a week of onboarding.
### About AfterQuery
AfterQuery is an expert data lab. We build the evaluation and training data that frontier AI labs use to measure what their models can and can't do in real professional work. Our contributors are practicing professionals, not annotators, and the work is credited, reviewed, and paid at professional rates.
How long hiring takes
On the platforms we refer people to, half of hires came within about 25 days of applying. Time from applying to hire:
IT Support Specialist interview prep
Questions IT Support Specialist interviewers often ask. They aren't taken from this listing.
How do you approach troubleshooting a network connectivity issue when a user can't give you much detail beyond 'the internet isn't working'?
I start with a structured set of checks, physical connection, then local network, then broader connectivity, rather than guessing based on the vague description, since a systematic approach finds the actual cause faster than jumping to the most common explanation. I also ask targeted follow-up questions to narrow down when the issue started and what changed.
What's your process for prioritizing support tickets when you have several open at once with different urgency levels?
I prioritize based on business impact, like whether an issue is blocking someone from working entirely versus a minor inconvenience, rather than working tickets in the order they arrived. A quick fix for a low-impact issue can wait behind a critical issue even if it came in first.
How do you explain a technical issue and its fix to a user who has no technical background?
I focus on what the issue meant for them practically and what to expect going forward, rather than the technical details of the fix, unless they specifically want more depth. Users generally care about whether it's fixed and what to do if it happens again, not the underlying mechanism.
What's your approach to diagnosing an intermittent issue that you can't reproduce on demand?
I gather as much detail as possible about the conditions when it occurs, like time of day or specific applications in use, and check logs from those windows rather than waiting to catch it live. Intermittent issues usually have a pattern that becomes visible once you look at multiple occurrences together.
Why this role
At $63/hr equivalent, this IT Support Specialist Expert role asks you to check AI answers in IT & Systems the way a colleague in your field would.
Skills and categories
More jobs in these fields:
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Common questions
How long do AfterQuery projects last?
Usually 2 to 3 weeks at 10 to 20 hours a week. AfterQuery re-hires specialists for new projects when AI labs need their field, so plan for it as short, well-paid contracts.
When does AfterQuery pay contractors?
It depends on the contract, usually 15 to 30 days after you send your invoice. Check the terms in your contract, and ask your project contact if the timing matters to you.
Do task-based AI training roles require an interview?
Most use an online assessment or a test task instead of a live interview. When the listing says which, it's in the role details on this listing.
What does task-based AI training work look like?
Short, hands-on tasks such as recording videos, sorting images, rating AI answers or checking data. Most take 5 to 60 minutes each.
What does IT & Systems work look like for an IT Support Specialist Expert?
You check AI answers to IT & Systems questions, correct their errors and write expert reasoning. As an IT Support Specialist Expert, you're hired for that judgment, so hands-on IT & Systems experience matters.
What specific skills does this listing call for?
English is named directly in the listing. If you don't have hands-on experience with this, expect the screening to test for it.
How much does this specific role pay?
This listing is posted at $63/hr equivalent, an hourly rate. Pay can change after we check the listing, so confirm the rate on the platform's application page.
What happens when I click Apply on this listing?
Apply opens AfterQuery's site, where you create an account and follow its sign-up steps.