A&D Manufacturing Expert - AI Trainer

Obsidian; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 12,834 - 16,182; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive task completion pay

Performance bonus for top performers

Opportunity for hourly compensation model

Job summary

Obsidian seeks experienced aerospace and defense professionals to support Project Atlas, building realistic digital workspaces for training AI agents. Candidates should bring expertise in A&D program management, supply-chain, or quality assurance.

The role involves designing tasks reflective of actual workflows, collaborating with experts, and contributing to AI research. An ideal candidate will have 3+ years at a Fortune 500 A&D company and familiarity with tools like ANSYS Fluent.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of full-time experience at a Fortune 500 A&D prime, major Tier-1 supplier, or federally-funded R&D center.
• Familiarity with classified-program workflows is a plus.
• Strong analytical thinking and writing skills.

Responsibilities

• Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the organization's daily tools.
• Design multi-step tasks grounded in real workflows.
• Collaborate with experts to shape task scope and review scenarios.

Skills

Program management

Aerospace design/engineering

Supply-chain management

Quality assurance

Analytical thinking

Tools

ANSYS Fluent

Siemens Opcenter

Jira

Job description

Role Overview

Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on Project Atlas — an initiative to build realistic enterprise environments that frontier AI agents are trained and evaluated in. We're seeking experienced aerospace and defense professionals from Fortune 500 primes and major Tier-1 suppliers (e.g., Lockheed Martin, Boeing, RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, L3Harris) to recreate the digital workspaces they run every day and design the tasks that genuinely challenge state-of-the-art AI.

You'll bring your expertise in A&A program management, design, manufacturing, supply‑chain, or quality / mission‑assurance to build a high‑fidelity environment that mirrors the tools, files, and workflows of a regulated defense or aerospace enterprise — and then author tasks grounded in the programs you actually run today.

Key Responsibilities

• Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the Drive folders you use day-to-day — the program review decks, CDRLs / SOWs, engineering change proposals, V&V plans, supplier qualification packages, risk registers, and email threads that reflect how you actually organize your work — with some representation of the platforms that support it (e.g., ANSYS Fluent simulations, Siemens Opcenter MES, Jira / Confluence)
• Design multi‑step tasks grounded in your real workflows that require navigating multiple apps, files, and stakeholders in a way that meaningfully challenges frontier AI agents
• Collaborate with other aerospace and defense experts in your field to design the environment, shape task scope, and review each other's scenarios for realism and rigor
• Work asynchronously with research teams to refine task designs and evaluation criteria for A&D agent benchmarks
• Contribute to frontier AI research and benchmarking — the work you produce directly informs how leading labs train and evaluate the next generation of AI systems

Ideal Qualifications

• 3+ years of full‑time experience at a Fortune 500 A&D prime, major Tier‑1 supplier, or federally‑funded R&D center
• Background in one or more areas such as:
  • Program / project management on DoD or NASA contracts (EVM, IMS, CDRLs)
  • Aerospace design or manufacturing engineering (structures, avionics, propulsion)
  • Supply‑chain management under DFARS / ITAR / CMMC
  • Quality and mission assurance (AS9100, NADCAP)
  • Systems engineering, V&V, or integrated test
• US Person status required for most A&D work; active / prior clearance not required for this project but familiarity with classified‑program workflows is a plus
• Day‑to‑day use of ANSYS Fluent / STAR‑CCM+, Siemens Opcenter or Rockwell FactoryTalk, and Jira / Confluence
• Strong analytical thinking and writing — able to translate A&D workflows into structured task specs

Compensation Note

• Task Completion Pay: Competitive and based on task quality (~$1,150 – $1,450 per completed task, subject to change as the project evolves)
• Performance Bonus: Top performers receive a weekly bonus incentive on top of their per task rate!
• Hourly Opportunity: Top performers may be invited to transition to an hourly compensation model based on sustained quality and throughput.