Data Science Expert - Fully Remote

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 96,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor, a San Francisco-based firm connecting elite AI researchers and data scientists, offers a remote contract role for Expert Professionals in AI & Data Science. Location: Remote, 40 hours/week.

You will guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps, design agentic tasks from real-world ML workflows, and write ground-truth solutions. You will evaluate outputs and help build evaluation rubrics.

Strong communication and STEM background required.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of research, academic, or industry experience in ML, data science, or STEM fields.
• Proven programming, data analysis, ML modeling, and statistical methods expertise.
• Ability to commit to 40 hours per week on weekdays for the engagement.

Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps in AI and data science.
• Design challenging agentic tasks based on real-world ML and data workflows.
• Evaluate AI agent outputs and provide detailed feedback on accuracy and reasoning.
• Develop evaluation rubrics and frameworks for assessing agentic behavior.
• Collaborate with subject matter experts to ensure training data quality.

Skills

Machine Learning

Data Analysis

Programming

Statistics

Computational Methods

Job description

About the job

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: Expert Professionals — AI & Data Science Type: Contract Compensation: $70–$100/hour Location: Remote Commitment: 40 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps in AI and data science domains. Surface nuances that distinguish expert-level work from surface-level reasoning.
• Design challenging agentic tasks rooted in real-world ML , data science , data engineering , and software workflows. Write accurate, well-documented solutions that serve as ground truth.
• Evaluate AI agent outputs against your solutions. Provide detailed written feedback capturing correctness, efficiency, and reasoning quality.
• Develop and refine evaluation frameworks and rubrics for assessing agentic behavior on AI and data science tasks.
• Collaborate with other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• 3+ years of research, academic, or industry experience in Machine Learning , Data Science , Software Engineering , Computer Science , Statistics , Biology , Electrical/Mechanical/Civil Engineering , Physics , Chemistry , Mathematics , Materials Science , or other STEM background.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in programming, data analysis, ML modeling , statistical methods, or computational methods.
• Ability to commit to 40 hours per week during weekdays for the duration of the engagement.
• Strong written communication skills and the ability to explain technical decisions clearly.

Preferred

• Prior experience with data annotation, labeling, evaluation, or human feedback collection.
• Experience with LLMs , AI systems , or agentic workflows; familiarity with agentic frameworks.