Applied Mathematics PhD - AI Specialist

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

About the role

We are seeking an Applied Mathematics Benchmark Specialist for a contract position. This role is remote and requires a commitment of 10+ hours per week, with compensation ranging from $61–$77/hour.

Responsibilities

• Author original math questions that test deep conceptual understanding, not surface-level recall.
• Ensure questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined. Include all necessary information in the problem statement.
• Rate each question's difficulty: Medium (intro undergraduate), Hard (advanced undergraduate), or Expert (post-graduate and above).
• Provide 1 correct answer and 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives that challenge expert-level solvers.
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with clear, concise intermediate steps in markdown format.
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from reputable sources like peer-reviewed journals and university repositories.
• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits made.

Requirements

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or a closely related field.
• Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional depth in a specific subdomain.
• Strong command of graduate-level mathematical concepts and formal proof writing.
• Excellent written English and ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with rigorous academic problem design or mathematical competition writing.