Physics Researcher - High Energy Expert

Mercor; Greater London; On-site; GBP 81,000 - 137,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert physics researchers to author and verify golden reference solutions for frontier physics benchmarks. You'll solve problems end-to-end with verifiable derivations, code, and references, auditing peers and adjudicating between attempts to produce human-verified reference data for evaluating models.

Responsibilities include decomposing tasks, writing Python templates with auto-grading, and documenting reasoning, tolerances, and tests.

Qualifications

• PhD or postdoc in the relevant subfield (senior PhD minimum).
• Auditor: postdoc or junior professor in the relevant subfield (PhD minimum).
• Adjudicator: full professor or industry PI in the relevant subfield (senior postdoc or junior professor).
• Hands-on familiarity with at least two canonical methods of the target subfield, demonstrable via publications.
• Proficient in LaTeX, Python, Jupyter and SymPy; strong written English.

Responsibilities

• Solve research-level physics challenges end-to-end with verifiable derivations, code, and peer-reviewed references
• Decompose challenges into standalone checkpoint sub-problems that require genuine physical reasoning
• Author Python answer templates with auto-grading functions for symbolic or numerical answers
• Audit submitted solutions for correctness, scope, and method soundness; deliver actionable feedback across iterations
• Adjudicate between parallel solver attempts and decide which solution becomes the golden reference
• Document chain-of-thought reasoning, error tolerances, equivalent symbolic forms, and verification test cases

Skills

LaTeX

Python

Jupyter

SymPy

English writing

Education

PhD or postdoc in relevant subfield

Tools

Jupyter Notebook

SymPy

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking expert physics researchers to author and verify golden reference solutions for the CritPt benchmark (arXiv:2509.26574v3) — a frontier research-level physics benchmark. Participants will solve CritPt research-level problems end-to-end, audit solutions from other experts, or adjudicate between parallel solution attempts, producing 100%-human-verified reference data used to evaluate large language models on frontier physics reasoning.

Physics Subdomains Covered

High Energy Physics & Mathematical Physics, Biophysics & Statistical Physics, Condensed Matter & AMO, Gravitation / Cosmology / Astrophysics, Quantum Information, Optical Properties of Materials, Magnetic Materials, Measurements in QM.

Key Responsibilities

• Solve research-level physics challenges end-to-end with verifiable derivations, code, and peer-reviewed references

• Decompose challenges into standalone checkpoint sub-problems that require genuine physical reasoning

• Author Python answer templates with auto-grading functions for symbolic or numerical answers

• Audit submitted solutions for correctness, scope, and method soundness; deliver actionable feedback across iterations

• Adjudicate between parallel solver attempts and decide which solution becomes the golden reference

• Document chain-of-thought reasoning, error tolerances, equivalent symbolic forms, and verification test cases

Ideal Qualifications

• Solver: PhD or postdoc in the relevant subfield (senior PhD student minimum)

• Auditor: Postdoc or junior professor in the relevant subfield (PhD minimum)

• Adjudicator: Full professor or industry research PI in the relevant subfield (senior postdoc or junior professor minimum)

• Hands-on familiarity with at least two canonical methods of the target subfield, demonstrable through publications (broader coverage strongly preferred)

• 3–5 representative publications (arXiv ID or DOI), ideally within the last ~5 years and in the target subfield

• Working proficiency with LaTeX, Python, Jupyter, and SymPy

• Strong written English (B2/C1/C2 minimum; native or near-native preferred)

More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: ~10 hours/week, sustained across an 8–10 week window per task pool

• Pay range: $80–$135 per hour, based on role and demonstrated expertise

• Asynchronous work