Remote Molecular Biologist: DNA/RNA Design for AI

mercor; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; GBP 73,000 - 109,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Molecular Biology Expert for a remote, contract role to design and review DNA/RNA constructs, primers, and gRNA/sgRNA sequences. You will assess AI-generated solutions and provide clear, justified feedback on accuracy and biological reasoning.

The ideal candidate holds a PhD in life sciences, has a strong peer-reviewed publication record, and can justify design choices in writing. This position supports up to 40 hours per week and involves collaboration with other

Qualifications

• Practicing or recently practicing molecular biologist with experience in designing nucleic-acid constructs.
• Strong peer-reviewed publication record in top journals.
• PhD strongly preferred in molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, synthetic biology, bioengineering, or related life-science fields.
• Strong written communication skills and ability to justify design choices clearly.

Responsibilities

• Design and review DNA/RNA sequences and constructs, including primers, plasmids, gRNA/sgRNA, mRNA constructs, and repair templates.
• Author challenging, domain-grounded design tasks and write accurate, well-documented solutions as ground truth.
• Evaluate AI model outputs against expert-quality solutions and provide clear, written feedback on correctness, rigor, and biological reasoning.
• Justify design choices at the sequence level, including guide/target selection, homology-arm length, primer melting temperature and specificity, codon optimization, and regulatory elements.
• Collaborate with other subject-matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Skills

Molecular biology

Design DNA/RNA constructs

Scientific writing

Education

PhD in life sciences

Job description

Mercor is seeking a Molecular Biology Expert for a remote, contract role to design and review DNA/RNA constructs, primers, and gRNA/sgRNA sequences. You will assess AI-generated solutions and provide clear, justified feedback on accuracy and biological reasoning.

The ideal candidate holds a PhD in life sciences, has a strong peer-reviewed publication record, and can justify design choices in writing. This position supports up to 40 hours per week and involves collaboration with other