Applied Philosophy Benchmark Specialist at Mercor

Applied Philosophy Benchmark Specialist | $50–$63/hr | Fully Remote

Join an exciting AI research initiative as a philosophy expert, authoring and reviewing rigorous academic assessment content that helps establish gold-standard benchmarks to advance AI capabilities. This is a flexible, asynchronous role ideal for PhD-level philosophers looking to contribute meaningfully to cutting-edge AI development.

Role Overview

You will be assigned one of two core task types:

• Question Authoring: Create original, challenging multiple-choice questions within your area of philosophy expertise, rate their difficulty, and submit them for peer review.
• Question Verification: Review pre-written questions for accuracy, clarity, and rigor. Edit where necessary, rate difficulty, and document all changes made.

Philosophy Domains Covered

• Formal Ontology & Knowledge Representation
• AI Ethics
• Applied Epistemology
• Philosophy of Technology & Robotics
• Philosophy of Science

Key Responsibilities

• Author original philosophy questions that test deep conceptual understanding — not surface-level recall
• Ensure all questions are unambiguous, self-contained, and precisely defined
• Rate each question's difficulty: Medium (intro undergraduate), Hard (advanced undergraduate), or Expert (post-graduate and above)
• Provide 1 correct answer alongside 9 plausible but subtly incorrect alternatives designed to challenge expert-level solvers
• Write step-by-step Chain-of-Thought solutions with clear, concise reasoning in structured format
• Supply 1–5 academic references per question from peer-reviewed journals or university repositories
• For verification tasks: flag issues with clarity, completeness, precision, or solvability and justify any edits

Ideal Qualifications

• PhD or doctoral candidate in Philosophy or a closely related field (Master's degree considered for candidates with exceptional subdomain expertise)
• Strong command of philosophical argumentation, formal logic, and canonical texts across traditions
• Research publications or teaching experience in philosophy is a strong plus
• Excellent written English with the ability to express complex ideas clearly and concisely

Commitment & Schedule

This role requires 10+ hours per week on a fully asynchronous, remote basis — work on your own schedule from anywhere in the world.