Physics Research Collaborator (Part-time)

We are recruiting a select cohort of accomplished physics researchers to contribute to the next generation of AI systems for scientific reasoning. Our partner labs are building models that need to reason about theoretical physics, condensed matter, quantum information, particle physics and high-energy theory, astrophysics and cosmology, atomic/molecular/optical (AMO) physics, plasma physics, biophysics, statistical and computational physics, and mathematical physics at the level of a working researcher — not a textbook. To get there, they need contributors whose own research sits at the frontier.

This position will be placed at a leading AI lab as part of their extended workforce.

What you'll do

• Review and evaluate research papers in physics for correctness, novelty, and significance
• Author and review challenging physics problems used to train and evaluate frontier AI models
• Evaluate model outputs on tasks ranging from analytical derivation and mechanism prediction to numerical modeling, experimental design, and literature reasoning
• Surface areas where current models fail — especially the kinds of mistakes a working PhD physicist would catch immediately
• Collaborate with a small program team and other senior contributors

Qualifications

We're looking for researchers who meet several of the following:

• First-author or co-first-author publications in journals such as Physical Review Letters, Physical Review X, Reviews of Modern Physics, Nature Physics, Nature, Science, PNAS, Nature Communications, the Physical Review A/B/C/D/E family, Physics Letters B, the Journal of High Energy Physics, the Astrophysical Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Quantum, or Communications Physics
• A doctorate or postdoctoral training from a top-20 global institution in physics or a related STEM field
• A competitive fellowship, such as an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Hertz Fellowship, a DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, a DOE Early Career award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Packard Fellowship, a Simons Investigatorship or Junior Fellowship, a Hubble, Einstein, Sagan, or Kavli (KITP) Fellowship, a Marie Curie/MSCA award, a Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Gates Cambridge, or Schmidt Science Fellowship, an NSF CAREER award, or an APS Fellowship
• Issued patents, a spin-out company, or grants held as a named Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator
• An International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal
• Current or recent experience in an active research role, as a PhD candidate, postdoctoral researcher, instructor, faculty member, principal scientist, or industry researcher; current title matters — we prioritize active faculty, postdoctoral researchers, or PhD candidates over general staff research-scientist titles

Outstanding senior PhD students and recent graduates with strong publication records are strongly encouraged to apply; the depth of your research output matters more than years of experience.

Engagement

• Part-time: up to 20 hours per week
• Compensation reflects research seniority and credentials

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 LLC serves as the employer of record for these engagements, providing W-2 employment, payroll, and compliance, while placing employees directly within client teams to work on high-impact initiatives.

Cincinnatus LLC is a legal entity separate from Mercor. While opportunities may be discovered through Mercor's platform, employment, onboarding, payroll, and benefits for these roles are administered by Cincinnatus LLC.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Cincinnatus LLC 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.

Cincinnatus LLC is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans throughout the job application process.