Research Physics Expert

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.

Yes, every applicant records a video interview with an AI interviewer that asks questions about your resume. Clients review that recording to judge communication skills before matching, so there's no way to apply without going on camera.

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.

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.

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.

Slow and deep, not fast and repetitive. A single task can take 45-60 minutes of researching citations or verifying complex calculations. Quality is what's being measured here, not throughput.

Tasks here are scoped to STEM, not generic labeling. As a Research Physics Expert, 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.

Based on the listing, this role is scoped at about 10 hours per week, over roughly a 10-week contract. Treat this as a real commitment expectation, not a loose estimate.

Yes. This role specifically requires English proficiency. You will likely be evaluated on written fluency during the assessment, not just conversational level. If English is not your first language or you are not professionally fluent, this is not the right role. Filter for your native language to find better-matched listings.

It doesn't directly, that's the catch. Each task has a listed price and an estimated completion time, but your actual effective rate depends on how fast you work. If a task is estimated at 20 minutes and pays $8, that is $24/hr for a fast worker and $12/hr for a slow one. Track your actual time on the first few tasks before treating the listed rate as your real hourly income.

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.

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.