Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist

Science & AI Safety • Independent Contractor • Remote • Weekly Payouts

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Role Overview

The Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist role is a remote contract position. It suits experienced professionals who want flexible, project-based AI work reviewed on a rolling basis. You collaborate directly with client teams on real deliverables that help train and evaluate next-generation AI systems, with no long-term commitment required.

We are seeking expert physicists to author and review high-quality academic assessment content for an AI research initiative. You will write and verify rigorous multiple-choice questions across core physics domains, evaluate solution quality, and help establish gold-standard benchmarks used to advance AI capabilities.

You will be assigned one of two task types

• Question Authoring, Create original, challenging multiple-choice questions in your area of physics expertise, rate their difficulty, and submit them for review.
• Question Verification, Review pre-written questions for accuracy, clarity, and rigor. Edit where needed, rate difficulty, and document any changes made.

Physics Domains Covered

Semiconductor Physics, Nanoelectronics & Spintronics, Photonics, Quantum Optics & Ultrafast, Quantum Sensing & Metrology, Plasma Physics & Fusion Energy, Nonlinear Dynamics & Turbulence, Geophysics & Reservoir Simulation.

Key Responsibilities

• Author original physics 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 (intro undergraduate), Hard (advanced undergraduate), or Expert (post-graduate and above)
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives that challenge expert-level solvers
• 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 (peer-reviewed journals, university repositories)
• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made

Ideal Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Physics, Applied Physics, Astrophysics, or a closely related field
• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain
• Strong command of graduate-level physics concepts and mathematical formalism
• Experience with rigorous academic problem design or physics olympiad writing is a strong plus
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely

More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: 10+ hours/week
• Asynchronous, fully remote work

Details

• Pay: $61 to $77 per hour (hourly)
• Commitment: Flexible • remote
• Eligible locations: United States
• Platform: Mercor (weekly payouts via Stripe or Wise)

Submit your application via the link below. Qualified candidates move through Mercor's short AI interview and selection process. Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance.