Drug Discovery Scientist - PhD

Mercor; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 120.000 - 160.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

Mercor is seeking a candidate to craft advanced evaluation frameworks for frontier AI models in drug discovery. You will design realistic research problems, build data rooms grounded in real sources, and write rigorous graders to assess reasoning quality and solution defensibility.

You will work 20–40 hours per week in a browser-based studio environment with Claude tools, contributing to continuous verification and rework cycles as needed.

Qualifikationen

• PhD or equivalent in enzymology, medicinal chemistry or related field.
• Ability to defend a problem rigorously and prevent shortcuts.
• Experience judging reasoning quality, not just final answers.

Aufgaben

• Design the challenge — identify the hidden basin and forcing chain.
• Build the world — assemble a data room from real, source-grounded data.
• Write the grader — draft a scoring document for submissions.
• Validate it — run verification and calibration before submission.
• Revise it — own rework if changes are requested.

Kenntnisse

Mechanistic enzymology

Structure-guided design

Fragment-based discovery

Medicinal chemistry

Ausbildung

PhD or equivalent industry track record

Tools

Claude Code

Claude Max

Jobbeschreibung

About the role

This is an evaluation framework for frontier AI models in drug research and development. Domain experts write realistic research problems wrapped around messy evidence worlds. The model works offline in a sandbox with open-source scientific tooling, receiving incomplete, indirect and sometimes misleading data, and must reach a defensible conclusion. The answer is present in the evidence but never stated.

Your job is to build a research problem so realistic and well-constructed that the model has to genuinely reason to solve it — it can't pattern-match or look the answer up.

What you'll deliver

Three things per task: the prompt, the data room, and the grading document.

1. Design the challenge — identify the hidden basin and the forcing chain that makes one conclusion inevitable.

2. Build the world — assemble a data room from real, source-grounded data. Every decisive value traces to a real source.

3. Write the grader — a grading document that scores a submitted memo on substance, not style or method.

4. Validate it — run verification and calibration before submission.

5. Revise it — you own the rework if a reviewer requests changes.

You are the final authority on every scientific and difficulty question in your task.

Who we're looking for

• Working expertise in mechanistic enzymology, structure-guided peptide or antibody design, fragment-based discovery, or structure-based medicinal chemistry — PhD or equivalent industry track record.

• You can pose a problem whose answer you can defend rigorously, but which a strong solver cannot shortcut.

• Comfortable judging reasoning quality, not just final answers.

Commitment

Minimum 20 hours per week, up to 40.

Tooling

Work happens in a browser-based studio plus Claude Code. A Claude Max subscription is required and is fully reimbursed.