Biology Expert - Fully Remote | Up to $75/hr

mercor; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; AUD 118,000 - 148,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking an Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist for a remote contract role. The position involves creating high-quality biology questions for pharmaceutical manufacturing and related fields, rating their difficulty, and providing solutions with references.

The candidate should have a PhD or be a doctoral candidate and possess strong written English. The role requires rigorous question design, clear explanations, and the ability to justify edits when evaluating content.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in biology or related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subdomain.

Responsibilities

• Author original biology questions spanning Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Industrial and Synthetic Biology, Medical Research & Drug Discovery, and related fields.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined with all information.
• Rate each question's difficulty (Medium/Hard/Expert) and provide 1 correct answer with 9 plausible alternatives.
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with intermediate steps.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources.
• Flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify edits.

Skills

Biology concepts

Experimental design

Data interpretation

Excellent written English

Education

PhD or doctoral candidate in Biology

Master's degree considered for exceptional depth

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: Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist Type: Contract Compensation: $60–$75/hour Location: Remote Commitment: 10+ hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Author original biology questions to test deep conceptual understanding in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing , Industrial and Synthetic Biology , Medical Research & Drug Discovery , and Agricultural, Environmental & Food Biology .
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined with all necessary information in the problem statement.
• Rate each question's difficulty as Medium, Hard, or Expert and provide 1 correct answer with 9 plausible alternatives.
• 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 such as peer-reviewed journals or university repositories.
• For verification tasks, flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made.

Qualifications Must-Have

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Biology , Molecular Biology , Biochemistry , Neuroscience , or a closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain.
• Strong command of graduate-level biological concepts, experimental design, and data interpretation.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

Qualifications Preferred

• Research publications or laboratory experience in biological sciences is a strong plus.