Applied Physics Content Architect - Contract

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 84,000 - 106,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor, a San Francisco-based firm connecting elite researchers with AI labs, seeks an Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist for a remote contract role. You will design rigorous physics questions, assess difficulty, and provide solutions with references.

Candidates should have a PhD in Physics (Master's considered with depth), excellent written English, and the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly. Commitment: 10+ hours/week, remote.

Qualifications

• PhD in Physics, Applied Physics, Astrophysics, or closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subdomain.

Responsibilities

• Author original physics questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined with all necessary information 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.

Skills

Graduate-level physics concepts

Mathematical formalism

Excellent written English

Education

PhD in Physics

Master's degree considered for exceptional depth

Job description

Mercor, a San Francisco-based firm connecting elite researchers with AI labs, seeks an Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist for a remote contract role. You will design rigorous physics questions, assess difficulty, and provide solutions with references.

Candidates should have a PhD in Physics (Master's considered with depth), excellent written English, and the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly. Commitment: 10+ hours/week, remote.