Materials Science PhD - AI Evaluator

Obsidian; New York (NY); On-site; USD 83,000 - 138,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is hiring PhD and Master's scientists to author AI evaluation tasks and participate in a new benchmark for scientific computing. You will author original, executable research problems that frontier models cannot solve, focusing on materials science and related subdomains with coding.

The role involves sourcing material, crafting prompts, defining grading criteria, and calibrating models. This is a 6-week, part-time engagement requiring 20+ hours per week with immediate start.

Qualifications

• PhD in materials science or related field.
• Depth in semiconductor materials and molecular modeling.
• Proficiency in Python or R for scientific computing.
• Experience with Git/GitHub and Docker in PR workflows.

Responsibilities

• Source your own material from papers, datasets, repositories, or a scenario you design.
• Write scientific prompts based on the input.
• Build the grading criteria that define a correct answer.
• Calibrate against frontier models—a task ships only when strong models fail it more often than they succeed.

Skills

Python

R

Education

PhD in materials science

Tools

Docker

Git/GitHub

Job description

Mercor is hiring PhD and Master's scientists to author AI evaluation tasks (Sci Code)

Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on a new benchmark for scientific computing. You will author original, executable research problems that today's frontier models cannot solve.

Domains — depth required in at least two subdomains (with a coding focus)

• Materials science — semiconductor materials, molecular modeling

What you'll do

• Source your own material: a published paper, a Kaggle dataset, an open-source repository, or a scenario you design
• Write scientific prompts based on the input
• Build the grading criteria that define a correct answer
• Calibrate against frontier models — a task ships only when strong models fail it more often than they succeed

Required

• PhD in materials science, materials engineering, applied physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, or a closely related field
• Demonstrated depth in both of the following subdomains: semiconductor materials and molecular modeling
• Working proficiency in Python, R, or another relevant programming language for scientific computing
• Comfortable with Git/GitHub and running code in Docker — authoring runs through a pull-request workflow with automated quality checks

Preferred

• Publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Prior scientific software or research engineering experience

Engagement

• Duration: 6 weeks
• Commitment: part-time, 20+ hours per week
• Start date: immediate

Process

1. Upload your resume and application form
2. A 25-minute conversational interview covering your background, experience, and motivations
3. Follow up within a few days with next steps and onboarding