Materials Science Expert - R&D Specialist

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: $1,150–$1,450/task
Location: Remote

Role Responsibilities

• Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the Drive folders you use daily. 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 navigation of multiple apps, files, and stakeholders to challenge frontier AI agents.
• 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 with characterization techniques like XRD, SEM/TEM, spectroscopy, and thermal analysis.
• Computational materials science expertise in DFT or MD.
• Process development and scale-up experience.
• Reliability and 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 skills to translate materials-science workflows into structured task specs.

Compensation & Legal

• Task Completion Pay: Competitive and based on task quality (~$1,150–$1,450 per completed task, subject to change as the project evolves).
• Performance Bonus: Top performers receive a weekly bonus incentive on top of their per task rate.
• Hourly Opportunity: Top performers may be invited to transition to an hourly compensation model based on sustained quality and throughput.

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.