Materials Scientist - Fully Remote

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: Materials Science Expert Type: Contract Compensation: $55–$75/hour Location: Remote Role Responsibilities Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the Drive folders you use day-to-day. Include experimental write-ups, characterization reports, simulation results, technology transfer memos, IP disclosures, project proposals, and email threads. Represent platforms like VASP , Materials Studio (Biovia) , LabVantage LIMS , and ANSYS Fluent . Design multi-step tasks grounded in your real workflows. Require navigating multiple apps, files, and stakeholders to challenge frontier AI agents meaningfully. Collaborate with other materials-science experts to design the environment, shape task scope, and review scenarios for realism and rigor. Work asynchronously with research teams to refine task designs and evaluation criteria for materials-science agent benchmarks. Contribute to frontier AI research and benchmarking. Your work directly informs how leading labs train and evaluate the next generation of AI systems. Qualifications Must-Have MS / PhD in materials science, chemistry, physics, or related discipline. 3+ years of full-time experience at a Fortune 500 R&D organization, national lab, or R1 university materials research group . Background in metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, or semiconductor materials. Experience in characterization ( XRD , SEM/TEM , spectroscopy, thermal analysis). Computational materials science / DFT / MD . Process development and scale-up. Reliability / failure analysis in advanced materials. Day-to-day use of VASP , Materials Studio (Biovia) , LabVantage / LabWare LIMS , and ANSYS Fluent / STAR-CCM+ . Strong analytical thinking and writing. Able to translate materials-science workflows into structured task specs. Compensation & Legal This project starts with an effective hourly rate. It will transition to a model where experts are compensated based on throughput of quality work rather than a flat accruing hourly rate. Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete) Upload resume AI interview based on your resume Submit form Resources & Support For details about the interview process and platform information, please check: https://talent.docs.mercor.com/welcome For any help or support, reach out to: support@mercor.com PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity. #J-18808-Ljbffr