PhD-Level Computational Biologist — Design Data-Centric Benchmarks for AI Models

1. Role Overview

Mercor is seeking computational biology experts to contribute to a unique project with a top-tier AI research organization. This short-term initiative challenges AI models with hidden-answer “mystery problems” grounded in real biological data. Experts will design, validate, and anonymize complex datasets to evaluate model reasoning capabilities, not lookup accuracy. This is a compelling opportunity for data-driven life scientists to shape next-generation AI evaluation benchmarks.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Design biologically grounded problems with a single correct answer and ≥20 plausible distractors

• Identify, download, and preprocess datasets from public repositories (e.g., GEO, SRA, NCBI)

• Subsample and anonymize datasets to prevent metadata-based inference

• Independently validate solutions through custom analysis pipelines and visualizations

• Operate within technical constraints (e.g., file size, task time limits)

3. Ideal Qualifications

• Hands-on experience analyzing sequencing or omics datasets (e.g., RNA-seq, WGS, mass spec)

• Proficient with bioinformatics tools and formats (e.g., BLAST, samtools, DESeq2, FASTA/FASTQ/BAM)

• Comfortable coding in Python, R, or bash, and working in Jupyter notebooks

• Understanding of biological experiment design and lab-to-data nuances (e.g., batch effects)

• Advanced degree (MS, PhD) or research background in computational biology, genomics, or bioinformatics

4. More About the Opportunity

• Expected commitment: 15–20 hours/week

• Project duration: ~1 month

We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.

Contract and Payment Terms

• You will be engaged as an independent contractor.
• This is a fully remote role that can be completed on your own schedule.
• Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance.
• Your work at Mercor will not involve access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution.
• Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise based on services rendered.
• Please note: We are unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time.

About Mercor

Mercor partners with leading AI labs and enterprises to train frontier models using human expertise. You will work on projects that focus on training and enhancing AI systems. You will be paid competitively, collaborate with leading researchers, and help shape the next generation of AI systems in your area of expertise.