Remote Applied Biology Assessment Designer (Contract)

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; GBP 62,000 - 77,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a contract Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist for remote work. The role offers $60–$75 per hour and requires a commitment of 10+ hours per week.

Candidates will craft biology questions with deep conceptual focus and provide multiple-choice options, and references. The ideal candidate will hold a PhD or be a doctoral candidate in Biology or related fields, with strong English writing abilities and relevant publications or lab experience.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, or closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for exceptional depth in a subdomain.
• Strong command of graduate-level biological concepts, experimental design, and data interpretation.
• Publications or laboratory experience in biological sciences is a strong plus.
• Excellent written English.

Responsibilities

• Author original biology 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 intermediate steps in markdown format.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources like peer-reviewed journals and university repositories.
• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made.

Education

PhD in Biology

Master's degree (exceptional depth)

Job description

Mercor is seeking a contract Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist for remote work. The role offers $60–$75 per hour and requires a commitment of 10+ hours per week.

Candidates will craft biology questions with deep conceptual focus and provide multiple-choice options, and references. The ideal candidate will hold a PhD or be a doctoral candidate in Biology or related fields, with strong English writing abilities and relevant publications or lab experience.