Description

Applied Chemistry Benchmark Specialist

Position: Applied Chemistry Benchmark Specialist

Type: Hourly Contract

Compensation: $61–$77/hour

Location: Remote

About the Opportunity

Mercor is seeking expert chemists to author and verify high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will develop rigorous chemistry questions, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks designed to measure and advance AI capabilities across multiple chemistry domains.

You may contribute through Question Authoring or Question Verification, depending on your expertise and project needs.

Responsibilities

  • Author original, challenging multiple-choice questions that assess deep conceptual understanding rather than surface-level recall.
  • Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, precisely defined, and contain all information necessary for solving.
  • Rate question difficulty as Medium, Hard, or Expert based on academic level.
  • Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives designed to challenge advanced solvers.
  • Develop clear, step-by-step solutions with concise intermediate reasoning in Markdown format.
  • Provide 1–5 reputable academic references for each question, including peer-reviewed journals and university repositories.
  • Review pre-written chemistry questions for accuracy, clarity, completeness, precision, and solvability.
  • Identify and document issues found during verification and justify any edits or corrections.
  • Help maintain consistent academic rigor and quality across benchmark content.

Chemistry Domains

  • Materials, Polymer & Electronic Chemistry
  • Industrial & Process Chemistry
  • Energy Storage & Environmental Chemistry
  • Pharmaceutical & Agrochemical Chemistry
  • Consumer, Food & Specialty Chemicals

Required Qualifications

  • PhD or doctoral candidacy in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a closely related field.
  • Strong command of graduate-level chemistry concepts.
  • Demonstrated understanding of reaction mechanisms and quantitative chemical analysis.
  • Ability to design and evaluate rigorous academic chemistry problems.
  • Excellent written English.
  • Ability to communicate complex scientific concepts clearly and concisely.
  • Strong attention to accuracy, precision, and logical consistency.
  • Ability to work independently in an asynchronous environment.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Master’s degree with exceptional depth in a specific chemistry subdomain.
  • Experience designing rigorous academic assessments or problem sets.
  • Experience writing chemistry olympiad questions or comparable advanced academic content.
  • Strong expertise in one or more of the covered chemistry domains.
  • Experience reviewing or validating technical/scientific educational content.
  • Familiarity with academic literature and reputable scientific reference sources.

Compensation

  • $61–$77 per hour
  • Hourly contract engagement
  • Fully remote and asynchronous
  • Expected commitment of 10+ hours per week

Eligibility

  • Open to qualified candidates with the required academic and chemistry expertise.
  • Reasonable accommodations are available upon request.
  • Selection is based on qualifications without regard to legally protected characteristics.

Application Process

  • Submit your application highlighting your chemistry background and area(s) of expertise.
  • Specify relevant academic qualifications and specialized chemistry domains.
  • Demonstrate experience with advanced chemistry problem-solving or academic content creation where applicable.
  • Selected candidates may be assigned question-authoring or verification work based on their expertise.
  • Complete assigned benchmark tasks while following the project’s quality and formatting standards.