Remote Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist (Contract)

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); Remote; GBP 63,000 - 78,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking an Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist for remote work. The role focuses on crafting rigorous biology questions, ensuring clarity, and testing deep conceptual understanding with expert-level content.

The contract requires 10+ hours per week, with compensation at $60–$75 per hour. Strong English writing and the ability to design experiments and interpret data are essential for success in this flexible, research-forward engagement.

Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, or a 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.
• Research publications or laboratory experience is a strong plus.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

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, Hard, or Expert.
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives.
• 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.
• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify edits.

Skills

Experimental design

Scientific writing

Data interpretation

Critical thinking

Education

PhD in Biology

Master's degree (exceptional depth)

Tools

R

Python

GraphPad Prism

Job description

Mercor is seeking an Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist for remote work. The role focuses on crafting rigorous biology questions, ensuring clarity, and testing deep conceptual understanding with expert-level content.

The contract requires 10+ hours per week, with compensation at $60–$75 per hour. Strong English writing and the ability to design experiments and interpret data are essential for success in this flexible, research-forward engagement.