Psychology PhD - Assessment Specialist

Mercor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 83,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote

Flexible schedule

Job summary

Mercor is seeking expert psychologists to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will write and verify rigorous questions across core psychology domains, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks for advancing AI capabilities.

Roles are fully remote with ~10+ hours weekly, offering flexible, asynchronous collaboration. Ideal candidates hold a PhD or are doctoral candidates, with strong command of graduate-level

Qualifications

• PhD/doctoral candidate in psychology or closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subdomain.
• Strong command of graduate-level psychological theory, research methodology, and empirical literature.
• Clinical licensure or research publications in psychology is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Author original psychology questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined — all necessary information must be in the problem statement.
• Rate each question's difficulty: Medium, Hard, or Expert
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives that challenge expert-level solvers
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with clear, concise reasoning in markdown format
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources
• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made

Skills

Graduate-level psychology theory

Research methodology

Empirical literature

Academic writing

Education

PhD, PsyD, or doctoral candidate in Psychology

Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subdomain

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking expert psychologists to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will write and verify rigorous multiple-choice questions across core psychology domains, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks used to advance AI capabilities.

You will be assigned one of two task types:

• Question Authoring — Create original, challenging multiple-choice questions in your area of psychology expertise, rate their difficulty, and submit them for review.

• Question Verification — Review pre-written questions for accuracy, clarity, and rigor. Edit where needed, rate difficulty, and document any changes made.

Psychology Domains Covered

Neuromorphic Engineering, Human Factors and Engineering Psychology, Consumer and Market Psychology, Psychometrics, Digital Health, Psychedelic-assisted Therapy.

Key Responsibilities

• Author original psychology questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall

• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined — all necessary information must be in the problem statement

• 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 that challenge expert-level solvers

• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with clear, concise reasoning in markdown format

• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources (peer-reviewed journals, university repositories)

• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made

Ideal Qualifications

• PhD, PsyD, or doctoral candidate in Psychology or a closely related field

• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain

• Strong command of graduate-level psychological theory, research methodology, and empirical literature

• Clinical licensure or research publications in psychology is a strong plus

• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely

More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: 10+ hours/week

• Asynchronous, fully remote work