Water Infrastructure & Municipal Finance Expert (U.S.)
Mercor • Remote
Education
Not stated
Type
Hourly
Pay Rate
$180/hr
Listed
162d ago
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From the Mercor listing
Mercor is seeking a Water Infrastructure & Municipal Finance Expert to support a leading AI research lab on a short-term, high-impact project focused on modeling U.S. water and wastewater capital expenditure (capex). In this role, you will review and validate a live Excel-based financial model projecting national water and wastewater capex for CY2026–2028. The model incorporates federal funding flows, state-level overlays, municipal capital improvement plans (CIPs), EPA needs assessments, and policy-driven scenarios. Your expertise will be critical in ensuring the model’s assumptions, structure, and outputs accurately reflect real-world infrastructure financing dynamics.
- Review and validate a complex Excel model forecasting U.S. water and wastewater capex (2026–2028)
- Assess assumptions tied to federal water funding programs, including:
- State Revolving Funds (SRF)
- WIFIA (Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act)
- IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) allocations and supplementals
- Evaluate integration of state funding mechanisms and municipal CIP rollups
- Cross-check model logic against EPA Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (CWNS) and Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey (DWINSA) extrapolations
- Provide feedback on policy scenario modeling (e.g., funding changes, allocation shifts, regulatory impacts)
- Identify inconsistencies, gaps, or unrealistic assumptions in projections
- Suggest improvements to model structure, clarity, and robustness
- 5+ years of experience in water infrastructure, municipal finance, or public sector capital planning
- Direct experience with:
- Municipal water/wastewater utilities or infrastructure advisory
- Capital expenditure planning (CIP) or infrastructure investment analysis
- U.S. federal water funding programs (SRF, WIFIA, IIJA)
- Strong familiarity with:
- EPA needs surveys (CWNS, DWINSA) and infrastructure funding flows
- State-level water financing mechanisms and bond issuance dynamics
- Advanced Excel skills (required):
- Comfortable auditing complex formulas, linked sheets, and scenario models
- Experience working with large-scale financial or infrastructure models
- Strong analytical judgment and ability to validate real-world assumptions against modeled outputs
- Excellent written communication skills for structured feedback
- Project-based / short-term engagement (likely a few weeks)
- Work with a frontier AI lab tackling large-scale infrastructure modeling problems
- Apply your domain expertise to shape data-driven insights in public infrastructure investment
- Flexible, high-impact consulting engagement with a focused scope
- Opportunity to contribute to next-generation economic and policy modeling systems
Requirements
- Must be eligible to work in Remote
- Fluent proficiency in English (Written & Verbal)
- Reliable high-speed internet connection
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience
- Demonstrated expertise in Business
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 →What to Expect
Looking at Mercor Business listings we've tracked, contracts in this domain typically run about 3 weeks. Actual length varies by project, but this gives you a realistic baseline going in.
Based on 31 extracted Mercor Business listings.
Why this role
Few outlets pay Business specialists what the leading AI labs pay for direct judgment. At $180/hr, this Water Infrastructure & Municipal Finance Expert (U.S.) role prices in the expertise itself, separate from hours billed or clients managed.
Talent pool
We're light on Business candidates
We've matched 55 people with a Business background against 1011 Business 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 Business work look like for a Water Infrastructure & Municipal Finance Expert (U.S.)?
Tasks here are scoped to Business, not generic labeling. As a Water Infrastructure & Municipal Finance Expert (U.S.), expect to draw on real domain judgment (evaluating outputs, correcting errors, or providing expert reasoning specific to Business) rather than following a one-size-fits-all rubric. If you don't have hands-on Business background, this is likely not the right listing to start with.
What specific skills does this listing call for?
Expert is named directly in the listing. If you don't have hands-on experience with this, expect the screening process to test for it directly rather than accepting adjacent experience as a substitute.
How much does this specific role pay?
This listing is posted at $180/hr, an hourly rate. 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.
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.