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 models for science.

1. Overview

A leading AI lab is building models that reason across the life sciences, and we're assembling a small cohort of molecular biologists to elevate the quality of the training data. The focus is the design of DNA and RNA sequences — the work a molecular biologist does prior to conducting experiments — including primers, plasmids, RNAs, and repair templates.

2. What you'll do

• Design and review DNA/RNA sequences and constructs — primers, plasmids, RNAs, repair templates, and related molecular-biology design tasks drawn from your professional experience.

• Author challenging, domain-grounded tasks and write accurate, well-documented solutions that serve as ground truth.

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

• Collaborate with other subject-matter experts to keep the training data consistent and accurate.

3. Who we're looking for

• A practicing (or recently practicing) molecular biologist with hands-on experience designing nucleic-acid sequences prior to experiments.

• A strong peer-reviewed publication record is a key measure of expertise — work in notable venues such as Nature, bioRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, and eLife is especially valued. Please include publication links with your application.

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

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

4. Scope

• This program is onboarding a small cohort of experts to process approximately 50–100 design tasks over an initial 2–3 week period, with strong potential to extend.

• Fast start — the program is aiming to begin this week.

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.