Physics - Research Collaborator
Mercor (client confidential) · Remote, US · Remote
- Pay
- $70–100/hr
- Commitment
- part-time
- Hours / week
- ~8
- Source
- mercor
About this role
**Join a leading AI lab’s cutting-edge research team to be at the core of the AI revolution, where your expertise fuels the development of the most advanced LLMs.** ## **1\. Role Overview** We are seeking advanced **Physics Researchers & PhD Students** to contribute to a project supporting a frontier-model evaluation effort focused on physics reasoning and problem-solving. You'll design and validate challenging benchmark tasks to help surface and diagnose reasoning gaps in a target model. The work centers on building robust, real-world physics tasks with verifiable solutions and then analyzing model behavior. ## **2\. Key Responsibilities** - Design challenging, real-world physics problems spanning areas such as classical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and other physics subfields. - Prepare all necessary components, including detailed problem statements, golden solutions, and evaluation criteria. - Evaluate the model's performance on the tasks. - Identify tasks where the target model fails, specifically classifying failures in physics reasoning and mathematical derivation. - Analyze model trajectories to observe and extract core capability loss patterns. ## **3\. Core Qualifications** - Currently enrolled in or recently completed a PhD program in Physics or a closely related field (e.g., Astrophysics, Applied Physics, Condensed Matter) at a top-tier university. - Deep expertise in one or more subfields of physics, with strong mathematical and analytical skills. - Ability to write clear, rigorous, and well-structured physics problems and solutions. - Verbal and written communication skills, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work independently. - Ability to engage reliably for 8+ hours/week. ## **4\. More about the Opportunity** - About Cincinnatus LLC: Cincinnatus is an enterprise staffing company that partners with leading technology companies to source and employ highly skilled professionals for full-time and long-term contingent roles. Cincinnatus serves as the employer of record for these engagements, providing W-2 employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance, while placing employees directly within client teams to work on high-impact initiatives. - Applicants must be located in the United States with eligible work authorization.
Eligible applicant countries
This role accepts applicants from:
- USA
Skills & domains
- ai-training
- rlhf
- sme
- annotation
- Life, Physical, and Social Science
