Biology PhD - Assessment Specialist - AI Trainer

Mercor; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 41,000 - 83,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert biologists to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. The role is asynchronous and fully remote, with an expected commitment of 10+ hours per week.

Analysts will craft original biology MCQs or verify existing ones, ensuring clarity, rigor, and precise problem statements across domains such as pharmaceuticals, environmental biology, and drug discovery.

Qualifications

• Advanced written English required for rigorous problem statements and explanations.
• Ability to design or review high-quality biology MCQs with clear, self-contained prompts.
• Experience in scientific writing or peer-reviewed research is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Author original biology questions that test deep conceptual understanding.
• Review and verify pre-written questions for accuracy and clarity.
• Rate difficulty levels and document edits with justification.
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible distractors for each question.
• Include step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions in markdown format and 1–5 references per question.

Skills

Academic writing

Biology knowledge

Critical thinking

English proficiency

Education

PhD in Biology

PhD candidate in Biology

Master's in Biology or related field

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking expert biologists to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will write and verify rigorous multiple-choice questions across core biology domains, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks used to advance AI capabilities.

You will be assigned one of two task types:

• Question Authoring — Create original, challenging multiple-choice questions in your area of biology expertise, rate their difficulty, and submit them for review.
• Question Verification — Review pre-written questions for accuracy, clarity, and rigor. Edit where needed, rate difficulty, and document any changes made.

Biology Domains Covered

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Industrial and Synthetic Biology, Medical Research & Drug Discovery, Agricultural, Environmental & Food Biology.

Key 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

Ideal Qualifications

• 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

More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: 10+ hours/week
• Asynchronous, fully remote work