Health Physicist (AI Red-Teaming) at Mercor

Health Physicist | $65–75/hr | Worldwide Remote | Contract (Task-Based)

Mercor is assembling a panel of radiological safety experts to red-team frontier AI models. In this role, you will help determine whether AI systems can correctly navigate the dual-use nature of radiological knowledge — answering legitimate professional questions fully while appropriately refusing genuinely dangerous ones.

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 judge whether each was handled correctly
• Author reference answers — detailing what a correct response looks like and the technical reasoning behind it

Why This Role Matters

Radiological health physics sits squarely on the dual-use line. The same isotope underpins cancer therapy and industrial radiography; the same shielding calculation that protects a worker can also conceal a source. A model that refuses a routine dose question is failing just as badly as one that answers something it shouldn't. Drawing that line reliably requires practitioners — not generalists.

Ideal Backgrounds

• Operational health physicist at a DOE site, national laboratory, or reactor facility (survey, assay, contamination control)
• Internal dosimetry or bioassay specialist (intake assessment, dose reconstruction, committed dose)
• Decommissioning and D&D health physicist (characterisation surveys, MARSSIM, release criteria)
• Accelerator or reactor health physics (activation products, neutron fields, shielding design and verification)
• Dose planning for high-hazard work (RWP development, ALARA reviews, hot-cell and glovebox operations)

Beyond Technical Depth

This is writing-intensive work. Every judgment you make requires a written rationale that a non-specialist can follow. Prior technical writing, published research, or expert witness experience is a strong signal — please include a sample or link in your application.

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

Important Note

This work must not draw on classified, export-controlled, or NDA-protected information. If you hold such obligations, you may still be a strong fit — please disclose this in your application and the scope will be adjusted accordingly.