Physics PhD - Quantum Computing Expert

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 103,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Physics PhD Coding Expert for a 6-week remote contract. The role focuses on sourcing material from papers and datasets, writing scientific prompts, and building grading criteria to evaluate model performance.

You will calibrate tasks against frontier models, ensuring deliverables meet high accuracy, while working independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines. Immediate start with ~20+ hours/week remote work.

Qualifications

• PhD in physics, applied physics, or closely related field.
• Depth in at least two subdomains: condensed matter, optics, quantum information/computing, computational physics, astrophysics, or particle physics.
• Working proficiency in Python, R, or another relevant programming language for scientific computing.
• Comfortable with Git/GitHub and running code in Docker.

Responsibilities

• Source material from published papers, Kaggle datasets, open-source repositories, or self-designed scenarios.
• Write scientific prompts based on sourced inputs.
• Build grading criteria to define correct answers.
• Calibrate tasks against frontier models, ensuring tasks ship only when strong models fail more often than they succeed.
• Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines while improving AI model performance.

Skills

Python

R

Education

PhD in physics or closely related field

Tools

Git/GitHub

Docker

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: Physics PhD Coding ExpertsType: ContractCompensation: $70/hourLocation: RemoteDuration: 6 weeksCommitment: 20+ hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Source material from published papers, Kaggle datasets, open-source repositories, or self-designed scenarios.
• Write scientific prompts based on sourced inputs.
• Build grading criteria to define correct answers.
• Calibrate tasks against frontier models, ensuring tasks ship only when strong models fail more often than they succeed.
• Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines while improving AI model performance .

Qualifications

Must-Have

• PhD in physics, applied physics, or a closely related field.
• Depth in at least two subdomains: condensed matter, optics, quantum information/computing, computational physics, astrophysics, particle physics.
• Working proficiency in Python , R , or another relevant programming language for scientific computing.
• Comfortable with Git/GitHub and running code in Docker .

Preferred

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

Start Date

Immediate