Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team to be at the core of the AI revolution, where your expertise fuels the development of the most advanced AI models.

1. Overview

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team and help build foundational AI models from the ground up. We're seeking talented Molecular Biology subject-matter experts (SMEs) with hands-on experience designing DNA and RNA sequences — primers, plasmids, guide RNAs, mRNA constructs, and repair templates — to bring deep domain expertise and elevate the quality of our AI training data. This is a part-time to full-time commitment of up to 40 hours per week.

This is a W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC (or appropriate international entity), with the opportunity to be placed at a leading AI Lab as part of their extended workforce.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps and improve AI model performance in molecular biology, nucleic-acid sequence design, and construct engineering.

• Design challenging, domain-relevant tasks and write accurate, well-documented solutions — spanning primers (PCR/qPCR/cloning), plasmids/expression vectors, gRNA/sgRNA for CRISPR editing, mRNA/RNA constructs, and HDR/repair templates — that serve as ground truth.

• Evaluate molecular-biology tasks and AI model outputs against expert-quality solutions and provide clear, written technical feedback on correctness, rigor, and biological reasoning.

• Develop guidelines and detailed rubrics/evaluation frameworks to assess sequence-design quality — guide/target selection, homology-arm length, primer melting temperature and specificity, codon optimization, and regulatory elements.

• Collaborate with other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

3. Core Qualifications

• Advanced degree (PhD strongly preferred) in molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, synthetic biology, bioengineering, or a related life-science field.

• Hands-on experience designing nucleic-acid constructs prior to experiments — across several of primers, plasmids/vectors, gRNA/sgRNA, mRNA, and HDR/repair templates — together with cloning strategy (Gibson, Golden Gate, Gateway, restriction) and codon optimization.

• A strong peer-reviewed publication record, weighted toward first-author work in notable venues (e.g., Nature and the Nature family, Cell, eLife, Nucleic Acids Research, PNAS, EMBO Journal). Please include publication links with your application.

• Demonstrable career progression.

• Ability to engage reliably for at least 20 hours/week during weekdays.

• Past experience in AI training, model evaluation, and data annotation is preferred.

• Strong written communication skills and the ability to justify design choices clearly and precisely.

About Cincinnatus LLC: Cincinnatus LLC is an enterprise staffing company that partners with leading technology companies to source and employ highly skilled professionals for contingent and contract-based opportunities. 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.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Cincinnatus is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.

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.