Commercial Blasting Engineer at Mercor

Commercial Blasting Engineer | $65–75/hr | Worldwide Remote

Mercor is seeking licensed blasting engineers and energetic materials specialists to help red-team frontier AI models. Your expertise will be used to evaluate whether AI systems can correctly distinguish between legitimate technical inquiries and potentially dangerous misuse — a critical challenge in the dual-use domain of commercial blasting and explosives.

What You'll Do

• Write challenging single-turn prompts across three classification levels: benign, dual-use, and adversarial
• Evaluate AI-generated responses against a defined policy standard and assess whether each was handled appropriately
• Author reference answers — including the correct response and the technical reasoning behind it

Relevant Backgrounds

• Licensed blaster or blasting engineer in mining, quarrying, construction, or demolition
• Blast design and vibration control — timing, burden, seismograph monitoring, and regulatory compliance
• Magazine management, inventory reconciliation, and specialty materials transport
• Storage compatibility, security, and regulatory compliance for commercial licensees
• Training, certification, or auditing of blasting crews

What Sets You Apart

This is writing-intensive work. Every judgment you make requires a clear written rationale accessible to non-specialists. Prior technical writing, published research, or expert witness experience is highly valued — please include a writing sample or link in your application.

You will be reading and writing about misuse scenarios in your field for extended periods. Mercor briefs all experts on this in advance, and you may pause or step away at any time without penalty.

Important Notes

This role must not draw on classified, export-controlled, or NDA-protected information. If you hold such obligations, you may still qualify — simply note it in your application and the scope will be adjusted accordingly.