LLM Research Scientist (Pre-training & Computer Vision & Adversarial Robustness)
Mercor • Remote
Education
PhD
Type
Hourly
Pay Rate
$100–$120/hr
Listed
59d ago
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From the Mercor listing
We're looking for experienced machine learning researchers with hands-on experience training and improving deep learning models end-to-end, across vision and language. You'll work on well-scoped empirical open-ended ML research problems.
Responsibilities
- Train image classifiers and generative image models from scratch, and fine-tune open-weight language models.
- Get the most out of limited data, compute, and model-size budgets.
- Make models robust — to adversarial inputs and to adversarial conversations.
- Compress models to meet hard size and latency constraints without sacrificing accuracy.
- Diagnose and resolve training issues.
Requirements
We are looking for candidates with strong expertise in one or more of the following areas:
Adversarial Robustness
Experience with:
- Adversarial training of image classifiers (e.g. PGD-based training, TRADES).
- Evaluating robust accuracy under standard threat models (e.g. L∞ attacks, AutoAttack) and avoiding gradient-masking pitfalls.
- Managing the robustness–accuracy trade-off and robust overfitting.
Efficient Computer Vision
Experience with:
- Training image classifiers end-to-end, especially for fine-grained recognition (many visually similar classes, few examples per class).
- Model compression: quantization, pruning, and knowledge distillation from large teachers into small students.
- Deploying models under hard size or latency budgets (on-device, edge, or embedded settings).
Generative Image Modeling
Experience with:
- Training image generative models from scratch: diffusion models, GANs, VAEs, or flow-based models.
- Iterating against sample-quality metrics such as FID.
- Training-efficiency tricks that produce good generators quickly and at small parameter counts.
LLM Post-Training & Behavioral Robustness
Hands-on experience with one or more of:
- Supervised fine-tuning and preference optimisation (DPO, RLHF, RLAIF) of open-weight language models, including building your own datasets via synthetic generation, noisy or weak supervision, and rejection sampling.
- Shaping conversational behaviour over multiple turns: resistance to persuasion and sycophancy, calibrated confidence, and knowing when to accept corrections.
- Alignment-style fine-tuning that changes a specific behaviour while preserving general capability.
Multilingual Pre-training
Experience with:
- Training multilingual or low-resource-language models from scratch.
- Tokenizer design across scripts and typologically diverse languages.
- Balancing highly unequal per-language data (sampling temperatures, cross-lingual transfer) in data-constrained regimes.
Additional Areas of Interest
Experience in any of the following is a plus:
- Scaling laws and training-efficiency research.
- Curriculum learning and data ordering.
- Model evaluation: benchmark construction, contamination control, statistically sound comparisons.
- Uncertainty estimation and model calibration.
- Data augmentation and synthetic data for robustness.
General Qualifications
- 3+ years of machine learning research experience (PhD research counts toward this requirement).
- Strong experience with PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow, or similar ML frameworks.
- Degree from a top-100 university, experience at a FAANG or comparable AI company, or an equivalent research track record through publications or impactful open-source contributions.
Why Join
- Work on cutting-edge machine learning research.
- Collaborate with leading AI researchers on challenging, high-impact projects.
- Flexible, project-based work with competitive compensation.
How long hiring takes
Across the AI training platforms we refer candidates to, the median gap between referral and hire is about 30 days. It varies by platform and role, so treat it as a rough guide for this one.
Talent Pool members
Apply through this link and we can put you forward to Mercor when your profile is a strong match. Not every applicant is submitted. If you're not in the pool yet, set up your profile first.
Set up your profile →Why this role
$100–$120/hr makes this LLM Research Scientist (Pre-training & Computer Vision & Adversarial Robustness) role one of the higher-paying remote options in STEM, and it pays for background you've already built rather than a new skill set.
Talent pool
We're light on STEM candidates
We've matched 65 people with a STEM background against 726 STEM listings we've tracked, so most go out without one. Set up a profile and we'll consider you for a role like this one.
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Common questions
Does it cost money to apply to Mercor?
No, applying and joining Mercor is free. Mercor's revenue comes from a fee it charges the client on top of your hourly rate, not from applicants. Treat any request for payment to join as a red flag.
Is Mercor for freelancers or full-time contractors?
Mercor places you with one client for a defined engagement, like 'Python Tutor for 3 months', rather than having you grab small tasks from a shared queue. Most roles function as steady contract work, not one-off gigs.
Is AI training work the same as traditional consulting?
No. Instead of client deliverables, you're given complex scenarios to evaluate: grading the AI's logic, correcting its hallucinations, and supplying expert-level reasoning it doesn't have on its own. The job is closer to teaching than consulting.
Why do these AI training roles pay so much?
Because general knowledge isn't what's being tested. The model already knows the basics; what it needs is expertise on edge cases, the rare, difficult, highly technical judgment calls only a senior professional in the field would make correctly.
What does STEM work look like for a LLM Research Scientist (Pre-training & Computer Vision & Adversarial Robustness)?
Tasks here are scoped to STEM, not generic labeling. As a LLM Research Scientist (Pre-training & Computer Vision & Adversarial Robustness), expect to draw on real domain judgment (evaluating outputs, correcting errors, or providing expert reasoning specific to STEM) rather than following a one-size-fits-all rubric. If you don't have hands-on STEM background, this is likely not the right listing to start with.
What specific skills does this listing call for?
Multilingual and Expert are named directly in the listing. If you don't have hands-on experience with these, expect the screening process to test for them directly rather than accepting adjacent experience as a substitute.
How much does this specific role pay?
This listing is posted at $100–$120/hr, an hourly rate. The range reflects experience level and negotiated terms, not a placeholder, so where you land in it depends on your background and the assessment. Pay can change between when we last checked the listing and when you apply, so confirm the current number on the platform's own application page before committing time.
What happens when I click Apply on this listing?
You'll be taken to Mercor's external site to complete your application there. This listing links through a referral, but the process is identical to applying directly; the link just routes you correctly. Create an account on their site and follow their onboarding steps.
Is a PhD required?
For this specific role, yes, or near-equivalent professional depth. The credential gate is enforced at the assessment stage, not just on paper. That said, active PhD candidates and people with equivalent published research have qualified without a formal degree. The assessment is the real filter.
How soon will I start working after applying to Mercor?
Not immediately. Mercor is a talent marketplace, not a task queue, so applying puts you in a pool of candidates. You start working only once a specific client, like a major AI lab, selects your profile, and that matching process can take weeks.