[Contract] Applied Computer Science Benchmark Specialist

1000scholars; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert computer scientists to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will create and verify rigorous CS questions, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks used to advance AI capabilities.

Role includes writing original questions or verifying pre-written ones, rating difficulty, and providing references. Remote, asynchronous work with weekly payments and independent contractor terms.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in CS, EE, or a closely related field.
• Strong command of graduate-level CS theory, algorithms, systems design, and ML.
• Publications or industry/research background is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Author original CS questions that test deep conceptual understanding.
• Rate difficulty: Medium, Hard, or Expert according to the rubric.
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible distractors for each question.
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with intermediate steps.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question.

Skills

CS theory

Algorithms

Systems design

Machine learning

Education

PhD

Master's degree considered

Job description

[Contract] Applied Computer Science Benchmark Specialist

Mercor

Remote

Role Overview

We are seeking expert computer scientists 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 computer science 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 computer science 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.

Computer Science Domains Covered

Accelerator/GPU Kernel Engineering, Formal Methods & Automated Reasoning, Computer Architecture & Accelerators, Distributed Systems, DevOps & Site Reliability, Data Engineering & Databases, Cloud & Infrastructure, OS & Systems Kernel, Machine Learning Engineering, Web & API Development, Embedded Systems Engineering, Computer Graphics & Game Development, Mobile Engineering.

Key Responsibilities

• Author original computer science 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 Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field
• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain
• Strong command of graduate-level CS theory, algorithms, systems design, and/or machine learning
• Research publications, industry experience at top tech companies, or competitive programming background 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
• We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.

Contract and Payment Terms

• You will be engaged as an independent contractor.
• This is a fully remote role that can be completed on your own schedule.
• Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance.
• Your work at Mercor will not involve access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution.
• Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise based on services rendered.
• Please note: We are unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time.