Molecular Biologist - Fully Remote | Upto $105/Hr

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; GBP 72,000 - 108,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking Molecular Biology Experts for a remote, contract role. You will design and review DNA/RNA sequences and nucleic-acid constructs, developing primers, guides, and regulatory elements as needed, while ensuring scientific rigor and reproducibility.

You will evaluate AI model outputs against domain-grounded solutions and provide clear, written feedback on correctness, robustness, and biological reasoning, collaborating with other experts to maintain high-quality training data.

Qualifications

• Design nucleic-acid constructs and sequences.
• Strong publication record; first-author in top journals.
• PhD strongly preferred.
• Excellent written communication to justify designs.

Responsibilities

• Design and review DNA/RNA sequences and constructs.
• Write accurate, well-documented ground truth solutions.
• Evaluate AI model outputs against expert solutions.
• Justify design choices at sequence level, including guide/target selection, homology-arm length, primer melting temperature and specificity.
• Collaborate with other subject-matter experts to ensure data accuracy.

Skills

Nucleic-acid construct design

DNA/RNA sequence design

Scientific writing

Collaborative design reviews

Education

PhD in molecular biology or related field

Job description

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:

Molecular Biology Experts
Type: Contract
Compensation: $70–$105/hour
Location: Remote
Commitment: Up to 40 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Design and review DNA/RNA sequences and constructs, including primers, plasmids, gRNA/sgRNA, mRNA constructs, and repair templates.
• Author challenging, domain-grounded design tasks and write accurate, well-documented solutions as ground truth.
• Evaluate AI model outputs against expert-quality solutions and provide clear, written feedback on correctness, rigor, and biological reasoning.
• Justify design choices at the sequence level, including guide/target selection, homology-arm length, primer melting temperature and specificity, codon optimization, and regulatory elements.
• Collaborate with other subject-matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• Practicing or recently practicing molecular biologist with experience in designing nucleic-acid constructs.
• Strong peer-reviewed publication record, especially first-author work in venues like Nature, Cell, eLife, Nucleic Acids Research, PNAS, and EMBO Journal.
• PhD strongly preferred in molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, synthetic biology, bioengineering, or related life-science fields.
• Strong written communication skills and ability to justify design choices clearly.

Start Date

• Fast start; the program aims to begin as soon as onboarding is complete.