Physics Researcher - High Energy Expert

Mercor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 186,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert physics researchers to author and verify golden reference solutions for the CritPt benchmark. You will solve frontier, end-to-end problems with verifiable derivations and code, auditing others' work for 100%-human-verified data used to evaluate language models on physics reasoning.

Ideal candidates hold a PhD or postdoc in the subfield, with hands-on experience in LaTeX, Python, Jupyter, and SymPy. The role is asynchronous with flexible hours, paying $80–$135 per hour.

Qualifications

• PhD or postdoc in the relevant subfield (senior PhD student minimum).
• Auditor: Postdoc or junior professor in the relevant subfield (PhD minimum).
• Adjudicator: Full professor or industry research PI in the relevant subfield (senior postdoc or junior professor minimum).
• Hands-on familiarity with at least two canonical methods of the target subfield, demonstrable through publications.
• 3–5 representative publications (arXiv ID or DOI), ideally within the last ~5 years and in the target subfield.

Responsibilities

• Solve research-level physics challenges end-to-end with verifiable derivations, code, and peer-reviewed references
• Decompose challenges into standalone checkpoint sub-problems that require genuine physical reasoning
• Author Python answer templates with auto-grading functions for symbolic or numerical answers
• Audit submitted solutions for correctness, scope, and method soundness; deliver actionable feedback across iterations
• Adjudicate between parallel solver attempts and decide which solution becomes the golden reference
• Document chain-of-thought reasoning, error tolerances, equivalent symbolic forms, and verification test cases

Skills

Python

LaTeX

Jupyter

SymPy

Problem solving

Education

PhD or postdoc in the relevant subfield

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking expert physics researchers to author and verify golden reference solutions for the CritPt benchmark (arXiv:2509.26574v3) — a frontier research-level physics benchmark. Participants will solve CritPt research-level problems end-to-end, audit solutions from other experts, or adjudicate between parallel solution attempts, producing 100%-human-verified reference data used to evaluate large language models on frontier physics reasoning.

Physics Subdomains Covered

High Energy Physics & Mathematical Physics, Biophysics & Statistical Physics, Condensed Matter & AMO, Gravitation / Cosmology / Astrophysics, Quantum Information, Optical Properties of Materials, Magnetic Materials, Measurements in QM.

Key Responsibilities

• Solve research-level physics challenges end-to-end with verifiable derivations, code, and peer-reviewed references

• Decompose challenges into standalone checkpoint sub-problems that require genuine physical reasoning

• Author Python answer templates with auto-grading functions for symbolic or numerical answers

• Audit submitted solutions for correctness, scope, and method soundness; deliver actionable feedback across iterations

• Adjudicate between parallel solver attempts and decide which solution becomes the golden reference

• Document chain-of-thought reasoning, error tolerances, equivalent symbolic forms, and verification test cases

Ideal Qualifications

• Solver: PhD or postdoc in the relevant subfield (senior PhD student minimum)

• Auditor: Postdoc or junior professor in the relevant subfield (PhD minimum)

• Adjudicator: Full professor or industry research PI in the relevant subfield (senior postdoc or junior professor minimum)

• Hands-on familiarity with at least two canonical methods of the target subfield, demonstrable through publications (broader coverage strongly preferred)

• 3–5 representative publications (arXiv ID or DOI), ideally within the last ~5 years and in the target subfield

• Working proficiency with LaTeX, Python, Jupyter, and SymPy

• Strong written English (B2/C1/C2 minimum; native or near-native preferred)

More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: ~10 hours/week, sustained across an 8–10 week window per task pool

• Pay range: $80–$135 per hour, based on role and demonstrated expertise

• Asynchronous work