Biology Phd - Assessment Specialist

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); On-site; AUD 115,000 - 144,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking an Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist for contract work. This remote role requires PhD or doctoral candidate in biology-related fields, with strong written English and experience in experimental design and data interpretation.

Compensation is $60-$75 per hour, with a commitment of 10+ hours per week. The ideal candidate will create advanced biology questions, provide references, and clearly communicate solutions for AI research labs.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, or closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subfield.
• Strong command of graduate-level biological concepts, experimental design, and data interpretation.
• Research publications or laboratory experience in biological sciences is a strong plus.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

Responsibilities

• Author original biology questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined; all necessary information must be in the problem statement.
• Rate each question's difficulty: Medium, Hard, or Expert.
• 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.

Skills

Graduate-level biology concepts

Experimental design

Data interpretation

Excellent written English

Education

PhD in Biology

MSc in Biology or related field

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 that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined. All necessary information must be 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.

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.
• Research publications or laboratory experience in biological sciences is a strong plus.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.