Economics PhD - Benchmark Specialist

Mercor; Greater London; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 30,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert economists and finance professionals to author and review rigorous academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will write, verify, and benchmark high-quality multiple-choice questions across core economics and finance domains, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks for AI capabilities.

The role supports asynchronous, fully remote work with an expected commitment of 10+ hours per week.

Qualifications

• Author economics and finance questions testing deep understanding.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and well-defined.
• Rate difficulty: Medium, Hard, or Expert.
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible distractors.
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question.
• Flag clarity or solvability issues during verification.

Responsibilities

• Author original economics and finance questions testing deep understanding.
• Verify accuracy, clarity, and rigor of pre-written questions when needed.
• Rate each question's difficulty (Medium/Hard/Expert).
• Provide one correct answer plus nine plausible alternatives.
• Document edits and justify changes for verification tasks.

Skills

Graduate economics theory

Quantitative methods

Financial modeling

Excellent English

Academic research

CFA/CPA a plus

Education

PhD in Economics/Finance

Master's in relevant field

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking expert economists and finance professionals to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will write and verify rigorous multiple-choice questions across core economics and finance domains, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks used to advance AI capabilities.

You will be assigned one of two task types:

• Question Authoring — Create original, challenging multiple-choice questions in your area of expertise, rate their difficulty, and submit them for review.




• Question Verification — Review pre-written questions for accuracy, clarity, and rigor. Edit where needed, rate difficulty, and document any changes made.

Economics & Finance Domains Covered

Algorithmic Trading & Market Microstructure, Macroprudential Policy, Behavioral Finance & Experimental Economics, Urban Economics, Tokenomics & Decentralized Finance.

Key Responsibilities

• Author original economics and finance questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall




• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined — all necessary information must be in the problem statement




• Rate each question's difficulty: Medium (intro undergraduate), Hard (advanced undergraduate), or Expert (post-graduate and above)




• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives that challenge expert-level solvers




• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with clear, concise intermediate steps in markdown format




• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources (peer-reviewed journals, university repositories)




• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made

Ideal Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Economics, Finance, or a closely related field




• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain




• Strong command of graduate-level economic theory, quantitative methods, and financial modeling




• Experience with academic research, CFA/CPA certification, or financial industry expertise is a strong plus




• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely

More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: 10+ hours/week




• Asynchronous, fully remote work