Applied Physics Benchmark Specialist
About the role
From Mercor’s listing.
Pay: $61 - $77/hour
Role Overview
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
Who can apply
The listing only says “Remote”. That doesn’t mean worldwide. Check country eligibility on Mercor before you spend time on it.
How Mercor screens people
- 01Upload your resume and apply to a specific listing.
- 02Most listings ask you to complete a short AI-led video interview about your background.
- 03Some projects add a domain assessment before you are matched.
Before you apply
- No real platform charges you to apply or to “unlock” work.
- Apply to two or three platforms, not one. Acceptance is never certain.
- It’s contract work in projects. Hours vary week to week.
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