Designer roles in AI training: critique, decks and usability tests

Design roles in AI training come in three kinds: judge the model’s visual work, polish its slides, or react to a prototype as a professional. Each kind asks for different proof. The sorting below draws on the postings and each platform’s pages, read 13 October 2026.

Three kinds of work, and who they suit

Of the 19 design roles open here, 9 are Ethos and 5 are micro1. The rest come from Mercor (2), AfterQuery (1), SME Careers (1) and Terac (1).

A further 2 roles are filed under designers on the roles page but are metallurgy and non-destructive testing inspection jobs. They ask for inspection credentials, not a portfolio, so we leave them out.

Critique and curation

micro1’s Visual Creative Expert and Art Related Professional postings share one task. You review curated sets of images, pick the ones with the best composition, lighting, colour and originality, and write down why. The postings say the selections feed datasets built around refined aesthetic judgement.

micro1’s Graphic Designer posting adds production: you deliver illustrations, layouts and graphics to brand guidelines, then critique existing materials and iterate on feedback.

Mercor’s Arts and Design pool describes grading model output on craft. Is the hierarchy working? Are the type and colour choices deliberate? It also asks you to flag work that is competent and still would not ship, because of brand, accessibility or licensing.

UI and UX evaluation

Mercor’s Graphic and UX/UI Designer network names user research, interface design in Figma or Adobe XD, visual design and prototyping. AfterQuery’s Creative Technologist cohort spans audio, design and UX, and asks you to define what correct and excellent look like on problems you already know.

SME’s Architecture and Design Quality Assurance Lead role judges design accuracy, spatial reasoning and building-systems awareness in model answers. micro1’s CAD Design Expert role covers parametric assemblies and has its own CAD guide.

Decks and paid usability sessions

All 9 Ethos design roles belong to the slide-deck project, from presentation designers to creative directors. Terac lists 1 UX and product sessions that pay a fixed fee. There you are a participant giving professional reactions, not a producer.

Which proof each one wants

• A portfolio. micro1’s Graphic Designer role asks for a portfolio across digital, print or branding and experience giving design critique. The Visual Creative role asks for evidence of taste and rigour. Mercor says its arts pool values a portfolio over a credential and wants you to explain why something works.
• Years at a named kind of firm. Ethos asks a senior presentation designer for four or more years in a consulting or banking graphics team, with expert PowerPoint master templates. A creative director needs six or more years at an agency or in-house studio and a portfolio of creative presentations that sold work.
• Tools. Mercor’s network names Figma and Adobe XD. micro1 names Adobe Creative Suite or Figma.

What the roles pay

The 18 hourly roles advertise a median ceiling of $80 an hour. Site-wide, the median ceiling is $80.

Ethos pays a flat band per title. micro1’s rates vary widely by posting: its Visual Creative Expert role pays $21–70 an hour, while its Graphic Designer role pays $35–105 an hour. Mercor’s Graphic and UX/UI network pays $60–80 an hour.

Terac’s 1 sessions pay fixed fees: $21 per session. A session fee is not an hourly rate, and only one posting gives a length, a 15-minute test, so this site converts none of them.

Settle who owns what you make

None of the 10 descriptions outside Ethos address who owns the visuals, layouts or critiques you produce. Do that before you create anything you hoped to show later.

• Client and employer work. Mercor’s arts pool asks you to write a brief from work you have delivered. A client or agency contract may own that work and bar you from sharing it. Use personal projects.
• Your portfolio. Show it to qualify. Do not upload past work as task material.
• What your taste trains. The curation postings say your picks shape datasets for image models. Whether you are comfortable lending your eye to that is your call, and the postings say nothing about credit or reuse.
• Assets for handoff. The Graphic Designer posting asks you to keep files organised for downstream use. Ask who uses them, and under what licence, before you hand over source files.

Where you can work from

The roles limited to the US by their location field or text number 1 of the 19. Terac carries the paid sessions. It needs a verified phone number to apply and a verified identity to cash out, as our Terac guide explains.

Which to try first

• You work from a portfolio: micro1’s visual roles, then the Mercor arts and UX pools. Read micro1’s interview guide and Mercor’s.
• You made decks at an agency or consultancy: one Ethos profile covers all 9 deck roles.
• You are a product designer or researcher wanting a quick one-off: a Terac session, with a fixed fee and no ongoing commitment.

What the postings do not say

• How critique is scored, or whether your picks are compared with other reviewers’.
• Whether a pool leads to work. 3 of the 10 roles outside Ethos are standing pools.
• Weekly hours on the micro1 design roles.
• Whether you are credited for any work product.

This site is not affiliated with any platform named here, and passing a screening is not a promise of work.