Inorganic Chemistry & Synthesis Expert at Mercor

Inorganic Chemistry & Synthesis Expert | $84/hr | Remote | Contractor

About the role

Mercor is hiring Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Synthesis Experts to support advanced AI research. You will use your expertise in inorganic chemistry, synthesis methods and materials characterisation to evaluate scientific problems, assess technical accuracy, and help develop AI systems capable of advanced scientific reasoning.

What you'll do

• Evaluate technically complex problems involving inorganic chemistry, solid-state chemistry and materials synthesis.
• Review and validate AI-generated scientific explanations, synthesis pathways and experimental methodologies.
• Assess reaction mechanisms, precursor selection, reaction conditions, phase formation and materials stability.
• Develop scientifically rigorous reference answers, technical evaluations and reasoning frameworks.
• Identify inaccuracies in chemical reasoning, proposed synthetic routes and interpretations of experimental results.
• Apply characterisation techniques such as XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and thermal analysis.
• Collaborate with research teams to improve the scientific accuracy and reliability of advanced AI models.

Requirements

• PhD in Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Solid-State Chemistry, Materials Science or a closely related discipline. Exceptional MSc candidates with extensive research experience may be considered.
• Demonstrated experience in inorganic synthesis, solid-state reactions, solution-phase synthesis, hydrothermal/solvothermal methods or related techniques.
• Strong understanding of crystallography, phase diagrams, chemical bonding, thermodynamics and reaction kinetics.
• Experience interpreting experimental characterisation data and assessing scientific literature.
• Strong scientific writing, analytical reasoning and communication skills, with the ability to independently evaluate complex scientific problems.

Preferred

• Research experience involving catalysts, metal oxides, ceramics, semiconductors, coordination compounds or functional inorganic materials.
• Peer-reviewed publications or patents in inorganic chemistry or materials synthesis.
• Experience bridging experimental chemistry with computational materials science.
• Prior experience evaluating scientific datasets, technical benchmarks or AI-generated research outputs.

Pay and schedule

$84/hr as an hourly contractor, working remotely. Minimum 10 hours per week, with potential for up to 40 hours per week.