Energetic Materials Expert for Redteaming

Mercor; India; Remote; INR 6,403,000 - 9,119,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Referral reward

Job summary

Mercor is assembling a panel of energetic materials experts for red-teaming frontier AI models, focusing on misuse potential and appropriate refusal of dangerous questions. The role is an hourly, fully remote contract with weekly payments through Stripe or Wise.

You will craft prompts, assess model outputs, and write reference answers with clear reasoning. We seek chemists with specialty materials knowledge or engineers with initiation and propulsion experience, including background in hazardous

Qualifications

• Prior AI evaluation or red-teaming experience is preferred.
• Backgrounds include Hazardous Device Specialist / Public Safety Professional, Specialty Materials Chemist (pyrotechnics or propulsion), Federal Certified Materials Specialist / Incident Analyst, Propulsion & Effects Engineer, Commercial Blasting Engineer.

Responsibilities

• Write challenging single-turn prompts in your domain across benign, dual-use, and adversarial labels.
• Evaluate responses against a defined policy standard and judge suitability.
• Write the reference answer with the technical reasoning for why.

Job description

Energetic Materials Expert for Redteaming

Company: Mercor

Compensation: $60 per hour

Commitment: Hourly contract

Location: Remote

• Referral Reward: Earn up to $300 per successful referral.
• Referral Link: https://t.mercor.com/13Slr

About the work Mercor is assembling a panel of explosives and energetic materials experts to red-team frontier AI models. The goal is to test whether a model can correctly judge the misuse potential of a technical request: Answering legitimate questions fully while refusing genuinely dangerous ones.

You will:

• Write challenging single-turn prompts in your domain, labelled across three levels: benign, dual-use, and adversarial.
• Evaluate the responses that come back against a defined policy standard, and judge whether each was handled correctly.
• Write the reference answer; what a correct response looks like, and the technical reasoning for why.

Models tend to fail this domain in both directions: refusing routine questions a mining engineer or investigator asks daily, then engaging with a request they should have shut down because it arrived in academic clothing. Knowing which is which takes someone who has done the work.

Background we're looking for

We're recruiting across two profiles and need both:

• chemists with specialty materials expertise, and engineers or operators with initiation and propulsion system experience.
• Prior AI evaluation or red-teaming experience is preferred.

Relevant backgrounds include:

• Hazardous Device Specialist / Public Safety Professional — render-safe procedures and device assessment.
• Specialty Materials Chemist (pyrotechnics or propulsion) — formulation, synthesis and performance testing.
• Federal Certified Materials Specialist / Incident Analyst — forensic identification and scene analysis.
• Propulsion & Effects Engineer — munitions and propulsion system design.
• Commercial Blasting Engineer — specialty materials handling, storage and transport.

What this role demands beyond technical depth

This is writing-intensive work. Every judgment you make needs a written rationale that a non-specialist can follow. Prior technical writing, incident or post-blast reporting, published research, or expert witness experience is a strong signal; please include a sample or link.

You will also be reading and writing about misuse scenarios in your field for sustained periods. We brief experts on this in advance, and you can pause or step away at any point without penalty.

Before you apply Your work here will not involve, and must not draw on, classified or export-controlled information, or anything covered by an NDA or prepublication review obligation. If you hold such obligations you may still be a good fit; tell us in your application and we will scope the work accordingly.

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.