Pharmaceutical Research Expert at Mercor

Pharmaceutical Research Expert | $60–80/hr | Worldwide Remote

Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on Project Atlas — an initiative to build realistic enterprise environments where frontier AI agents are trained and evaluated. We're seeking seasoned pharmaceutical research professionals from Fortune 500 pharma and biotech companies or major academic research centers to help recreate the digital workspaces and workflows that define modern pharma R&D.

What You'll Do

• Build high-fidelity digital workspaces modeled on your real day-to-day tools — including study protocols, IND/NDA drafts, pharmacology reports, biomarker analyses, CMC technical reports, and DMC briefing documents
• Design multi-step, realistic tasks grounded in your actual workflows that meaningfully challenge state-of-the-art AI agents
• Collaborate asynchronously with other pharmaceutical experts to refine task designs, evaluation criteria, and scenario realism
• Contribute directly to frontier AI research and benchmarking efforts at leading AI labs

Ideal Background

• Education: PhD, MD, PharmD, or MS with substantial industry experience; fellowship training is a plus
• Experience: 3+ years at a Fortune 500 pharma/biotech company or top academic research center
• Domain expertise in one or more of the following:
  • Target ID / drug discovery (medicinal chemistry, HTS, DMPK)
  • Preclinical / translational research (PK/PD, tox, biomarker)
  • Clinical development (Phase I–IV, biostatistics, clinical operations)
  • Regulatory affairs (IND, NDA, BLA, EMA) or CMC
  • Real-world evidence, HEOR, or pharmacovigilance
• Hands-on experience with platforms such as Medidata Rave, Oracle Clinical One, Schrödinger Suite, MOE (CCG), Benchling, or LabArchives
• Strong analytical and technical writing skills — able to translate complex R&D workflows into structured task specifications

Compensation

This role begins at an effective hourly rate of $60–80/hr, with a planned transition to a throughput-based compensation model rewarding quality and volume of work produced.

About Mercor

Mercor is a talent marketplace connecting top domain experts with leading AI labs and research organizations. Backed by Benchmark, General Catalyst, Adam D'Angelo, and Jack Dorsey, Mercor's contributors play a direct role in shaping the next generation of AI systems.