Physics Expert - Fully Remote | Upto $77/hr

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 84,000 - 106,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. The company is headquarted in San Francisco and operates a remote contract position as an Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist.

The role involves authoring rigorous physics questions, rating their difficulty, creating 1 correct answer with 9 distractors, and detailing step-by-step solutions. References, verification, and clear communication in English are required.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Physics, Applied Physics, Astrophysics, or closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subdomain.
• Strong command of graduate-level physics concepts and mathematical formalism.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

Responsibilities

• Author original physics questions that test deep conceptual understanding.
• Rate each question's difficulty: Medium, Hard, or Expert levels.
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible, subtly incorrect alternatives.
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with intermediate steps in markdown format.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources.
• Flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify edits.

Skills

Graduate-level physics

Mathematical formalism

Excellent written English

Education

PhD in Physics

Doctoral candidate

Master’s degree in 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: Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist Type: Contract Compensation: $61–$77/hour Location: Remote Commitment: 10+ hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Author original physics questions that test deep conceptual understanding. Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined.
• 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 to 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 such as peer-reviewed journals and university repositories.
• For verification tasks, flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Physics , Applied Physics , Astrophysics , or a closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain.
• Strong command of graduate-level physics concepts and mathematical formalism.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

Preferred

• Experience with rigorous academic problem design or physics olympiad writing is a strong plus.