Structural Biologist (Protein Design, AI Evaluation)

Science & Research • Hourly Contract • Remote • $150–$220/hr

JobHub by NeonLabs, in partnership with Mercor, is seeking highly experienced Structural Biologists to support a leading AI lab working on frontier protein-design research and long-horizon reasoning tasks.

This role focuses on evaluating how advanced AI systems approach real-world protein design challenges — not just final outputs, but the reasoning, decision-making, and scientific judgment behind them. You'll help design and evaluate complex biological problem sets, review model trajectories, and shape how next-generation AI systems reason about structural biology, molecular engineering, and protein design.

What You'll Do

• Brainstorm and propose advanced protein-design problem ideas for AI evaluation.
• Collaborate with the team to refine and structure evaluation tasks.
• Define targets, allowed tools, success criteria, and evaluation methods.
• Review AI model trajectories and grade reasoning quality step-by-step.
• Evaluate scientific decision-making, not just final answers.
• Help shape evaluation standards for frontier AI systems in biology.

Ideal Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent industry experience in Structural Biology, Protein Design, Biophysics, Computational Biology, Chemistry, Materials Science, or a related field.
• Deep expertise in areas like binder design, enzyme engineering, FEP/ddG workflows, force field chemistry, or structure-guided medicinal chemistry.
• Ability to evaluate long-horizon scientific reasoning and experimental design.
• Comfortable assessing ambiguous or open-ended biological research problems.
• Strong communication and scientific writing skills.
• Ability to iterate quickly and collaborate closely with researchers.

Bonus Experience

• Protein engineering or molecular modeling tooling.
• Computational chemistry or force field optimization.
• AI-assisted biology workflows.
• Widely-used scientific tooling contributions or shipped molecular programs.
• Experience evaluating model outputs or scientific reasoning systems.

Engagement Details

• Pay: $150–$220/hour (USD)
• Type: Hourly Contract | Remote | Flexible Schedule
• Commitment: ~15–30 hours over 2–4 weeks
• Classification: Independent Contractor through Mercor
• Payments: Weekly via Stripe or Wise
• Growth: Potential for project expansion based on performance
• Note: No H-1B or STEM OPT sponsorship available