STEM Expert - Fully Remote

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 96,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

40 hours per week

Contract role

Job summary

Mercor is seeking Expert Professionals in STEM for a remote, contract role. You will guide research teams, design rigorous scientific tasks, and evaluate AI-generated work, ensuring high-quality reasoning across STEM domains.

The role requires a PhD in a STEM field, 3+ years of research or industry experience, and strong technical and written communication skills. You will collaborate with experts and contribute to robust evaluation frameworks while working remotely.

Qualifications

• PhD in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Statistics, CS, E&E, Mechanical, Civil, Materials or related STEM field.
• 3+ years of research, academia or industry experience in the primary STEM domain.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in at least one domain: modeling, lab methods, data analysis, statistics or programming.
• Ability to commit to 40 hours per week during weekdays for the engagement.
• Strong written communication to explain complex concepts.

Responsibilities

• Guide research teams to surface edge cases, ambiguities and frontier problems where models underperform.
• Design challenging domain tasks and write accurate, well-reasoned solutions demonstrating expert reasoning.
• Evaluate AI-generated tasks and solutions, providing clear technical feedback grounded in domain expertise.
• Develop evaluation frameworks and rubrics for assessing scientific reasoning across STEM domains.
• Collaborate with other experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Skills

Domain expertise

Data analysis

Statistical inference

Programming

Scientific writing

Education

PhD in STEM fields

Tools

LLMs

AI systems

Job description

About the job Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark , General Catalyst , Peter Thiel , Adam D'Angelo , Larry Summers , and Jack Dorsey.

Position: Expert Professionals — STEM Research Type: Contract Compensation: $70–$100/hour Location: Remote Commitment: 40 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Guide research teams to close knowledge gaps in STEM domains by surfacing edge cases, ambiguities, and frontier problems where current models underperform.
• Design challenging, rigorous domain tasks and write accurate, well-reasoned solutions that demonstrate expert-level scientific and technical reasoning.
• Evaluate tasks and solutions produced by AI agents and other contributors, providing clear written technical feedback grounded in domain expertise.
• Develop evaluation frameworks and rubrics for assessing scientific reasoning quality across STEM domains.
• Collaborate with other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Qualifications Must-Have

• PhD (completed, enrolled, or equivalent research track) in Physics , Chemistry , Biology , Mathematics , Statistics , Computer Science , Electrical Engineering , Mechanical Engineering , Civil Engineering , Materials Science , or another STEM discipline.
• 3+ years of research, academic, or industry experience in their primary STEM domain.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in at least one domain: computational modeling, laboratory methods, data analysis, statistical inference, programming, or equivalent scientific methods.
• Ability to commit to 40 hours per week during weekdays for the duration of the engagement.
• Strong written communication skills; ability to explain complex scientific or technical concepts clearly in writing.

Preferred

• Prior experience with data annotation, labeling, evaluation, or human feedback collection.
• Experience with LLMs , AI systems , or agentic workflows; familiarity with agentic frameworks.

Compensation & Legal

• W-2 employment with Cincinnatus LLC