[Contract] Molecular Biology Experts

[Contract] Molecular Biology Experts

Mercor

Remote, United Kingdom

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.