Remote Materials Scientist for AI Research Coding Contract

United States Digital Space LLC; United States; Remote; USD 80,000 - 113,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Materials Science PhD Coding Expert for a remote, six-week contract. The role focuses on sourcing material data from papers and datasets, and writing prompts to challenge AI models.

You will build grading criteria, calibrate tasks against frontier models, and work independently to meet deadlines. Strong Python or R skills, and experience with Git/GitHub and Docker are required. This is a short-term engagement with 20+ hours per week.

Qualifications

• PhD in materials science, materials engineering, applied physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated depth in semiconductor materials and molecular modeling.
• 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 designed scenarios.
• Write scientific prompts based on sourced input to challenge AI models.
• Build grading criteria to define correct answers for scientific tasks.
• Calibrate tasks against frontier models, ensuring tasks ship only when strong models fail more often than succeed.
• Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines and improve AI model performance.

Skills

Python

R

Education

PhD in materials science or closely related field

Tools

Git/GitHub

Docker

Job description

Mercor is seeking a Materials Science PhD Coding Expert for a remote, six-week contract. The role focuses on sourcing material data from papers and datasets, and writing prompts to challenge AI models.

You will build grading criteria, calibrate tasks against frontier models, and work independently to meet deadlines. Strong Python or R skills, and experience with Git/GitHub and Docker are required. This is a short-term engagement with 20+ hours per week.