Physics PhD - Quantum Computing Expert

Mercor; Berlin; On-site; EUR 34,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

6-week engagement

Part-time, 20+ hours per week

Job summary

Mercor is hiring PhD and Master's scientists to author AI evaluation tasks (Sci Code). You will author original, executable research problems that today's frontier models cannot solve.

You will source material, write prompts, and build grading criteria, then calibrate against frontier models — a task ships only when strong models fail it. Start date: immediate; duration: 6 weeks; commitment: part-time, 20+ hours per week.

Qualifications

• PhD in physics, applied physics, or related field.
• Demonstrated depth in at least two subdomains: condensed matter, optics, quantum information, computational physics, astrophysics, or particle physics.
• Working proficiency in Python or other scientific computing languages.
• Familiar with Git/GitHub and running code in Docker with PR-based workflows.

Responsibilities

• Author original, executable research problems for AI evaluation.
• Write scientific prompts based on input data.
• Build grading criteria for correct answers.
• Calibrate tasks against frontier models where current models fail.

Skills

Python

Git/GitHub

Docker

Education

PhD in physics

Tools

Docker

Git/GitHub

Jupyter Notebooks

Job description

Mercor is hiring PhD and Master's scientists to author AI evaluation tasks (Sci Code)

Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on a new benchmark for scientific computing. You will author original, executable research problems that today's frontier models cannot solve.

Domains — depth required in at least two subdomains (with a coding focus)

• Physics — condensed matter, optics, quantum information/computing, computational physics, astrophysics, particle physics

What you'll do

• Source your own material: a published paper, a Kaggle dataset, an open-source repository, or a scenario you design

• Write scientific prompts based on the input

• Build the grading criteria that define a correct answer

• Calibrate against frontier models — a task ships only when strong models fail it more often than they succeed

Required

• PhD in physics, applied physics, or a closely related field

• Demonstrated depth in at least two of the following subdomains: condensed matter, optics, quantum information/computing, computational physics, astrophysics, particle physics

• Working proficiency in Python, R, or another relevant programming language for scientific computing

• Comfortable with Git/GitHub and running code in Docker — authoring runs through a pull-request workflow with automated quality checks

Preferred

• Publications in peer-reviewed journals

• Prior scientific software or research engineering experience

Engagement

• Duration: 6 weeks

• Commitment: part-time, 20+ hours per week

• Start date: immediate

Process

1. Upload your resume and application form

2. A 25-minute conversational interview covering your background, experience, and motivations

3. Follow up within a few days with next steps and onboarding