Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist

Mercor; India; Remote; INR 7,890,000 - 9,960,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert physicists 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 physics domains, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold‑standard benchmarks used to advance AI capabilities.

This is a fully remote, hourly contractor role. Expected commitment is 10+ hours per week.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Physics, Applied Physics, or closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

Responsibilities

• Author original physics questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall.
• Rate each question's difficulty and provide solutions for review.
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives.
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with clear, concise intermediate steps.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources.
• Flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability for verification tasks.

Skills

PhD in Physics

Graduate-level physics concepts

Excellent written English

Education

Master's degree (considered)

Job description

Company Information

Company: Mercor

Compensation: $61-$77 per hour

Commitment: Hourly contract

Location: Remote

Role Overview

We are seeking expert physicists 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 physics 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 physics 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.

Physics Domains Covered Semiconductor Physics, Nanoelectronics & Spintronics, Photonics, Quantum Optics & Ultrafast, Quantum Sensing & Metrology, Plasma Physics & Fusion Energy, Nonlinear Dynamics & Turbulence, Geophysics & Reservoir Simulation.

Key Responsibilities

• Author original physics 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 Physics, Applied Physics, Astrophysics, or a closely related field
• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain
• Strong command of graduate-level physics concepts and mathematical formalism
• Experience with rigorous academic problem design or physics olympiad writing 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

We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.

Contract and Payment Terms

You will be engaged as an independent contractor. This is a fully remote role that can be completed on your own schedule. Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance. Your work at Mercor will not involve access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution. Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise based on services rendered.

Please note: We are unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time.

About Mercor

Mercor partners with leading AI labs and enterprises to train frontier models using human expertise. You will work on projects that focus on training and enhancing AI systems. You will be paid competitively, collaborate with leading researchers, and help shape the next generation of AI systems in your area of expertise.