MercorResearch and academiaReviewed
Research Physics Expert
Research-level physics role for authoring and verifying golden reference solutions for the CritPt benchmark, a frontier research-level physics benchmark. Applicant pay shown: $80 - $135 / hour.
- Platform
- Mercor
- Fit category
- Research and academia
- Remote/location
- Remote
- Pay
- Firm hourly pay: $80 - $135 / hour
- Eligibility
- Remote, work authorization mentioned
- Difficulty
- Highly selective
- Last reviewed
- Jul 2, 2026
Current application
Check the current Mercor listing
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What this role involves
Research-level physics role for authoring and verifying golden reference solutions for the CritPt benchmark, a frontier research-level physics benchmark. The source describes solving problems end-to-end, auditing solutions from other experts, or adjudicating between parallel solution attempts to create human-verified reference data for evaluating large language models on physics reasoning.
Requirements
- Physics PhD, postdoc, professor, PI, or comparable frontier research background; senior PhD students may fit solver work.
- Hands-on familiarity with methods in relevant physics subfields such as high energy physics, condensed matter, AMO, gravitation/cosmology/astrophysics, quantum information, or statistical physics.
- Ability to write verifiable derivations, code, references, Python answer templates, and rigorous written feedback.
Best for
- Physics researchers with recent publications
- Postdocs or professors comfortable auditing research-level solutions
- Experts in high energy, condensed matter, AMO, cosmology, quantum information, or related subfields
Skip this if...
- You need H1-B or STEM OPT support and the live listing still says those candidates are not supported.
- You cannot commit roughly 10 hours/week across the current task window.
- You need guaranteed acceptance, guaranteed work, guaranteed pay, or guaranteed hours.
Application tips
- Prepare publication links, subfield evidence, and examples of Python or symbolic reasoning work.
- Do not share confidential employer, client, or research material as application proof.
- Check the current Mercor page before applying because task pools and eligibility can change.