Chemistry Domain Expert

Mercor; United States; Remote; USD 124,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking senior chemists to help frontier AI models reason about real chemistry research. The role emphasizes scientific judgment, reviewing chemistry reasoning tasks, and defining what correct answers look like. You will craft problem statements and reference solutions, and design benchmarks to demonstrate genuine improvement.

This is a fully remote position open to the United States. The ideal candidate has a PhD in chemistry or a closely related field, a strong research record, and

Qualifications

• PhD in chemistry, chemical engineering, or closely related field.
• Senior-level appointment such as faculty PI, staff scientist, or equivalent senior research role.
• Genuine deep specialization in at least one chemistry domain.
• Strong peer-reviewed publication record; fellowships/awards are a plus.
• Hands-on use of large language models in research contexts and ability to discern sound arguments.

Responsibilities

• Conduct expert review of chemistry tasks and model outputs to identify implausible mechanisms and errors.
• Write precise problem statements and reference solutions reflecting actual research chemistry practices.
• Design challenging, research-level benchmarks and evaluation sets in your specialization.
• Collaborate with researchers to convert tacit expertise into explicit, teachable criteria.

Skills

AI fluency

Communication

Research track record

Expert feedback

Location: US

Education

PhD in chemistry or closely related field

Job description

Pay: $90 – $140/hour

Commitment: Hourly

Open to: USA

Help define how frontier AI models reason about chemistry.

1\. Overview

We are looking for senior chemists to improve how frontier AI models reason about real chemistry research.

Your scientific judgment is the substance of this role. You will review the quality of chemistry reasoning tasks and model outputs, write the problem specifications and reference solutions that define what "correct" looks like, and design benchmarks that show whether a model is genuinely improving. We are looking for a practicing specialist rather than a generalist.

This role is fully remote.

2\. Key Responsibilities

• Expert review: Assess chemistry tasks and model outputs, catching implausible mechanisms, infeasible reactions, stoichiometric and thermodynamic errors, misread spectra, and answers that read well but would not survive peer review.
• Problem specs and reference solutions: Write precise problem statements and rigorous reference solutions that reflect how research chemistry is actually done.
• Benchmarks: Design challenging, research-level problems and evaluation sets in your area of specialization.
• Calibration: Work with other researchers and experts in adjacent fields to turn tacit expert judgment into explicit, teachable criteria.

3\. Core Qualifications

• Education: PhD in chemistry, chemical engineering, or a closely related field.
• Seniority: A faculty appointment, principal investigator, staff or senior scientist, or an equivalent senior research role at a university, national laboratory, or research organization.
• Domain depth: Genuine specialization in at least one area, for example organic and synthetic chemistry, physical and computational chemistry, inorganic and materials chemistry, analytical chemistry, or chemical biology.
• Research record: A strong peer-reviewed publication record. Recognition such as competitive fellowships or awards is a plus.
• AI fluency: Hands-on use of large language models in your work, and the judgment to tell a sound argument from a plausible-sounding wrong one.
• Communication: Excellent written communication and the ability to give precise, well-structured feedback.
• Location: Based in the United States.