Key findings
- 1
The most common title words were Expert or SME (24.8% of open roles), Trainer (18.7% of open roles) and Specialist (18.6% of open roles).
- 2
Roles titled "Lead or manager" advertised the highest median ($80/hr); roles titled "Rater" the lowest ($9/hr).
- 3
Only 2.3% of open roles carry a senior, staff or principal title; they advertised a median of $65/hr against $40/hr for roles with no level in the title.
- 4
13.4% of open roles say "freelance" in the title itself.
Figure 1
What AI training roles are called
Is the work posted as trainer, tutor, rater, annotator or expert?
| Title word | Open roles | Share of open roles |
|---|---|---|
| Expert or SME | 1,085 | 24.8% |
| Trainer | 818 | 18.7% |
| Specialist | 817 | 18.6% |
| Evaluator or reviewer | 364 | 8.3% |
| Engineer or developer | 354 | 8.1% |
| Voice actor or speaker | 318 | 7.3% |
| Annotator or labeler | 295 | 6.7% |
| Analyst or researcher | 276 | 6.3% |
| Quality assurance | 196 | 4.5% |
| Contributor or participant | 178 | 4.1% |
| Lead or manager | 168 | 3.8% |
| Rater | 82 | 1.9% |
| Writer or editor | 68 | 1.6% |
| Linguist or translator | 44 | 1.0% |
| Red teamer or tester | 31 | 0.7% |
| Tutor | 19 | 0.4% |
Sample. 4,381 roles open at the end of 31 Oct 2026, by the words in their titles; 83.5% use at least one of these words.
A title can use several words ('Expert AI Trainer') and counts for each.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition.
Figure 2
Advertised pay by title word
Does it pay more to be called an expert than a rater?
| Title word | Median per hour | Typical pay |
|---|---|---|
| Lead or manager | $80 | $50 to $125 |
| Engineer or developer | $75 | $60 to $125 |
| Red teamer or tester | $65 | $40 to $125 |
| Expert or SME | $60 | $40 to $125 |
| Analyst or researcher | $55 | $30 to $135 |
| Tutor | $40 | $40 to $80 |
| Evaluator or reviewer | $35 | $20 to $120 |
| Specialist | $35 | $30 to $70 |
| Trainer | $35 | $35 to $65 |
| Voice actor or speaker | $35 | $30 to $200 |
| Writer or editor | $35 | $20 to $120 |
| Contributor or participant | $30 | $10 to $55 |
| Linguist or translator | $30 | $30 to $65 |
| Annotator or labeler | $20 | $16 to $50 |
| Quality assurance | $18 | $10 to $60 |
| Rater | $9 | $4 to $25 |
Sample. Roles open on 31 Oct 2026 that state an hourly rate; title words with at least 3 of them.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition.
Figure 3
Each platform's word for the work
Which title does each platform use most?
| Platform | Most-used title word | Its share of the platform's roles |
|---|---|---|
| Invisible | Trainer | 98.1% |
| SuperAnnotate (SME) | Expert or SME | 33.5% |
| Alignerr | Expert or SME | 19.7% |
| micro1 | Expert or SME | 30.1% |
| Mercor | Expert or SME | 32.1% |
| AfterQuery | Expert or SME | 66.1% |
| Welo Data | Rater | 31.5% |
| Handshake AI | Expert or SME | 22.8% |
| Turing | Analyst or researcher | 26.7% |
| RWS TrainAI Community | Evaluator or reviewer | 42.0% |
| Anyone AI | Expert or SME | 76.7% |
| Prolific | Trainer | 37.9% |
| DataAnnotation | Specialist | 39.3% |
| Weekday | Expert or SME | 46.3% |
| Rise Data Labs | Specialist | 76.9% |
| Mindrift | Trainer | 46.7% |
| Sigma AI | Linguist or translator | 28.4% |
| Braintrust | Contributor or participant | 23.4% |
| Perle Labs | Annotator or labeler | 85.1% |
| TELUS Digital AI | Expert or SME | 52.2% |
| Claru | Annotator or labeler | 13.3% |
| Volga Partners | Evaluator or reviewer | 84.7% |
| Babel Audio | Annotator or labeler | 44.7% |
| Outlier (Scale AI) | Evaluator or reviewer | 41.3% |
| Lifted (Upwork) | Annotator or labeler | 40.0% |
| TransPerfect DataForce | Voice actor or speaker | 43.2% |
| Appen | Contributor or participant | 31.0% |
| OpenTrain AI | Annotator or labeler | 32.5% |
| Terac | Evaluator or reviewer | 35.1% |
| Sovrano AI | Expert or SME | 88.9% |
| RemoExperts | Expert or SME | 28.1% |
| Innodata | Evaluator or reviewer | 25.8% |
| Vetto | Expert or SME | 80.0% |
| xAI (SpaceXAI) | Tutor | 100.0% |
| OneForma | Evaluator or reviewer | 41.2% |
| Aligned Labs | Analyst or researcher | 26.7% |
| Surge AI | Engineer or developer | 7.7% |
| Scale AI Human Frontier Collective | Expert or SME | 10.0% |
| iMerit | Analyst or researcher | 66.7% |
| Shaip (Collaborate by Shaip) | Voice actor or speaker | 66.7% |
| DATAmundi | Voice actor or speaker | 37.5% |
| Pasiflora AI | Evaluator or reviewer | 42.9% |
| Elsevier Health | Evaluator or reviewer | 100.0% |
| Pila8 | Contributor or participant | 75.0% |
| RealTrainAI | Evaluator or reviewer | 50.0% |
| Cohere | Annotator or labeler | 100.0% |
| RemotasksSmall sample | Specialist | 33.3% |
| SamaSmall sample | Contributor or participant | 33.3% |
| Mistral AISmall sample | Annotator or labeler | 100.0% |
| Fleet AISmall sample | Specialist | 100.0% |
| AnthropicSmall sample | None of these | n/a |
| Snorkel AI Expert CommunitySmall sample | None of these | n/a |
| LimbicSmall sample | Annotator or labeler | 100.0% |
| PointClickCareSmall sample | Expert or SME | 100.0% |
| Vals AISmall sample | Expert or SME | 100.0% |
| HeadwaySmall sample | Evaluator or reviewer | 100.0% |
| Edison ScientificSmall sample | None of these | n/a |
| EvolutionIQSmall sample | Expert or SME | 100.0% |
| Inworld AISmall sample | Evaluator or reviewer | 100.0% |
| KastleSmall sample | Trainer | 100.0% |
| TrellisSmall sample | None of these | n/a |
| JazzX AISmall sample | Expert or SME | 100.0% |
Sample. 4,381 roles open at the end of 31 Oct 2026, by the words in their titles.
Rows with fewer than 3.5 open roles are marked as a small sample and not ranked: below that the average of the rows weighs more than a row's own open roles (the weight fitted on the rows' own counts).
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition.
Figure 4
Seniority words in titles
How many AI training roles are senior, and how much more do they pay?
| Level | Open roles | Share of open roles | Median per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior, staff or principal | 99 | 2.3% | $65 |
| Lead or manager | 179 | 4.1% | $65 |
| Junior, entry or associate | 36 | 0.8% | $35 |
| Intern or student | 6 | 0.1% | $25 |
| None of these words | 4,064 | 92.8% | $40 |
Sample. 4,381 roles open at the end of 31 Oct 2026, by the words in their titles.
Median pay needs at least 3 roles stating a rate.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition.
Figure 5
Engagement words in titles
How many roles say freelance, contract, part-time or remote in the title?
| Word | Open roles | Share of open roles | Median per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance | 588 | 13.4% | $35 |
| Contract | 30 | 0.7% | $80 |
| Part-time | 18 | 0.4% | $55 |
| Full-timeSmall sample | 0 | 0.0% | n/a |
| Remote | 193 | 4.4% | $30 |
| On-site or hybrid | 41 | 0.9% | $30 |
| None of these words | 3,538 | 80.8% | $50 |
Sample. 4,381 roles open at the end of 31 Oct 2026, by the words in their titles.
Median pay needs at least 3 roles stating a rate.
Source. AITraining.jobs Research, AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition.
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- Title word
- A role counts for a word when its title contains it (whole words, case-insensitive), with its plural and close variants; a title can count for several.
- Advertised pay
- The hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range), counted once per distinct rate as the job board counts it. The median and typical pay are the board's: typical pay runs from the 25th percentile of what roles pay (the middle of each advertised range) to the 90th-percentile advertised ceiling, stated from 3 distinct rates.
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- September 2026 editionFrozen 10 Oct 2026
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Citation
AITraining.jobs (2026). AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition. https://aitraining.jobs/research/ai-training-job-titles/2026-10
BibTeX
@misc{aitrainingjobs_ai_training_job_titles_2026_10,
author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
title = {AI Training Job Titles, October 2026 edition},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://aitraining.jobs/research/ai-training-job-titles/2026-10}},
}More research
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