Engineering

Mathematical Physicist (PhD)

Mercor

Verified listing

Contract

RemotePosted Oct 4$80–$110 per hour

Overview

CritPt is a public benchmark of research-level physics challenges designed to test whether AI models can perform genuine physics research reasoning. Mercor is engaging physicists to work on research-level problems in their own subfields—creating problems, solving them, reviewing work, or auditing—depending on their publication record and expertise.

What You’ll Do

Create research-level physics problems or solve them depending on subdomain match
Produce complete written work verifiable by other specialists in the subfield
Review or audit completed work by other contributors
Engage in work matching one of four specific research areas: special functions, integrable systems, permutation combinatorics for random tensor networks, or conformal geometry

Requirements

PhD in mathematical physics, theoretical physics, or mathematics
Published first-author work on one of the four specified phenomena (not adjacent areas)
Verifiable publication record: 3–5 representative papers from last 5 years with arXiv IDs or DOIs
Working proficiency with LaTeX, Python, SymPy, and Jupyter
English at B2 or above, including written mathematical reasoning
Familiarity with agentic coding extensions in VS Code is helpful but gaps acceptable if declared

Who Should Apply

Postdoctoral researchers, research scientists, junior faculty, or senior PhD students with a strong first-author publication record in one of the four specific subdomains (special functions, integrable systems, permutation combinatorics, or conformal geometry). This work suits someone comfortable working independently on research-grade problems with high written documentation standards and who thrives on precision and rigour. It will frustrate anyone seeking quick turnaround volume work, or those whose expertise is in adjacent areas rather than the exact phenomena listed.

Salary Insight

$80–$110 per hour for a contract role working 10 hours per week over 8–10 weeks is senior-rate compensation for technical research work, reflecting the depth of specialisation required. The wide band ($30/hour spread) is calibrated to subdomain match depth—exact specialisation in the phenomenon itself commands the higher end. No negotiation is mentioned, but the rate is set post-matching based on fit.

About Mercor

A marketplace placing specialists into paid remote contract work with AI companies. One profile and one AI interview, reused across every role you apply to.

Remote policy: Fully remote, worldwide, on hourly contractor agreements rather than employment. But payment eligibility is the thing to check before you invest any time, because it is decided by country and there is no way around it. Mercor pays through Stripe Connect in…

How hiring works at Mercor →

Required Skills

Special functionsIntegrable systemsTensor networksConformal geometrySymbolic computation

Compensation

$80–$110 per hour

Location: Remote
Engagement: Contract
Posted: Oct 4

Opens Mercor’s listing on MyRemoteJobs — we don’t collect applications ourselves.

About Mercor

A marketplace placing specialists into paid remote contract work with AI companies. One profile and one AI interview, reused across every role you apply to.

How hiring works at Mercor →

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Application Tip

Read the CritPt paper (arXiv:2509.26574) before applying—it will tell you immediately whether this work aligns with your research. The single most common rejection reason is excellent physicists without publications on the specific phenomenon itself. When you list papers, lead with first-author work that directly demonstrates the methods listed for your chosen area, not adjacent or tangential work. The application form asks for author position and the methods each paper shows, and every paper will be verified against the public record, so precision here is non-negotiable.

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