Physics Research Scientist - Fully Remote | Upto $70/hr

mercor; India; Remote; INR 8,009,000 - 10,679,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Physics PhD Coding Expert for a remote 6-week contract, offering $70/hour with a 20+ hour weekly commitment. Immediate start. The role focuses on sourcing material, drafting scientific prompts, and building grading criteria to evaluate AI models, with independent, deadline-driven work practices.

Ideal candidates hold a PhD in physics or related fields and have deep knowledge across multiple subdomains, plus proficiency in Python or R and familiarity with Docker and Git/GitHub.

Qualifications

• PhD in physics, applied physics, or closely related field.
• Depth in at least two subdomains: condensed matter, optics, quantum information/computing, computational physics, astrophysics, or particle physics.
• Working proficiency in Python, R, or another relevant language for scientific computing.
• Comfortable with Git/GitHub and running code in Docker.

Responsibilities

• Source material from published papers, Kaggle datasets, open-source repositories, or self-designed scenarios.
• Write scientific prompts based on sourced inputs.
• Build grading criteria to define correct answers.
• Calibrate tasks against frontier models, ensuring tasks ship only when strong models fail more often than they succeed.
• Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines while improving AI model performance.

Skills

Python

R

Git/GitHub

Docker

Multidisciplinary physics

Education

PhD in physics or closely related field

Tools

Docker

Git/GitHub

Job description

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark , General Catalyst , Peter Thiel , Adam D'Angelo , Larry Summers , and Jack Dorsey .

Position: Physics PhD Coding ExpertsType: ContractCompensation: $70/hourLocation: RemoteDuration: 6 weeksCommitment: 20+ hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Source material from published papers, Kaggle datasets, open-source repositories, or self-designed scenarios.
• Write scientific prompts based on sourced inputs.
• Build grading criteria to define correct answers.
• Calibrate tasks against frontier models, ensuring tasks ship only when strong models fail more often than they succeed.
• Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines while improving AI model performance .

Qualifications

Must-Have

• PhD in physics, applied physics, or a closely related field.
• Depth in at least two 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 .

Preferred

• Publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Prior scientific software or research engineering experience.

Start Date

Immediate