Chemical Safety Expert - Redteaming

Obsidian; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is assembling a panel of chemistry domain experts to red-team frontier AI models. The role involves writing challenging prompts across benign, dual-use, and adversarial levels, and evaluating model responses against a defined policy standard.

The position emphasizes written rationale and documentation, with a preference for those who have prior AI evaluation experience or strong technical writing credentials.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in synthesis, analytical chemistry, or chemical safety.
• Prior AI evaluation or red-teaming experience preferred.
• Backgrounds include chemical defense researchers, synthetic/process chemists, analytical chemists.

Responsibilities

• Write challenging single-turn prompts in your domain, labelled across benign, dual-use, and adversarial levels.
• Evaluate the responses against a policy standard and judge whether each was handled correctly.
• Write the reference answer and the technical reasoning for why, with clear documentation.

Skills

Synthesis

Analytical chemistry

Chemical safety

Job description

About the work

Mercor is assembling a panel of chemistry domain experts to red-team frontier AI models. The goal is to test whether a model can correctly judge the misuse potential of a technical request; answering legitimate questions fully while refusing genuinely dangerous ones.

You will:

• Write challenging single-turn prompts in your domain, labelled across three levels: benign, dual-use, and adversarial.
• Evaluate the responses that come back against a defined policy standard, and judge whether each was handled correctly.
• Write the reference answer — what a correct response looks like, and the technical reasoning for why.

The hard part is calibration, not difficulty. A benign prompt that a model wrongly refuses is as valuable as an adversarial one it wrongly answers. That judgment is why we need domain experts rather than generalists — in chemistry the line sits between mechanism and procedure, and only someone who has run the reaction knows exactly where it falls.

Background we're looking for

We're looking for professionals with hands-on experience in synthesis, analytical chemistry, or chemical safety. Prior AI evaluation or red-teaming experience is preferred. Relevant backgrounds include:

• Chemical Defense Researcher (USAMRICD, DoD, CDC) — toxicological agents and medical countermeasures.
• Synthetic / Process Chemist — route design, reaction engineering and scale-up.
• Analytical Chemist — detection and identification methods for hazardous compounds.
• Industrial Hygienist / Process Safety Engineer — exposure assessment, toxic release and process hazard analysis.
• Forensic / Toxicological Chemist — controlled substances, precursor identification and casework.

What this role demands beyond technical depth

This is writing-intensive work. Every judgment you make needs a written rationale that a non-specialist can follow. Prior technical writing, published research, or expert witness experience is a strong signal — please include a sample or link.

Prior AI red-teaming or model evaluation experience is a plus but not required.

You will also be reading and writing about misuse scenarios in your field for sustained periods. We brief experts on this in advance, and you can pause or step away at any point without penalty.

Before you apply

Your work here will not involve, and must not draw on, classified or export-controlled information, or anything covered by an NDA or prepublication review obligation. If you hold such obligations you may still be a good fit — tell us in your application and we will scope the work accordingly.