Safeguards Analyst / IAEA Inspector at Mercor

Safeguards Analyst / IAEA or Euratom Inspector | $65–75/hr | Worldwide Remote | Contract (Task-Based)

Mercor is assembling a panel of nuclear materials and safeguards experts to red-team frontier AI models. Your role is to help determine whether an AI can correctly distinguish legitimate technical inquiries from genuinely dangerous ones — answering routine questions fully while refusing misuse attempts. This is specialized, writing-intensive contract work suited to experienced practitioners in nuclear safeguards and material accountancy.

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 — documenting what a correct response looks like and the technical reasoning behind it

Ideal Background

We're looking for practitioners who have verified nuclear material, not just studied it. The ability to distinguish a routine professional question from one fishing for sensitive information is essential. Relevant experience includes:

• IAEA, Euratom, or state-system (SSAC/RSAC) inspector — inspection planning, verification, and reporting
• Material accountancy — facility declarations, inventory change reports, MUF evaluation and resolution
• Additional Protocol implementation — declarations, complementary access, and information analysis
• Safeguards instrumentation and C/S — NDA measurement, seals, and unattended monitoring systems
• Safeguards-by-design or policy analysis at a laboratory, regulator, or ministry

Beyond Technical Expertise

This role requires strong written communication. Every judgment you make must be supported by a clear rationale accessible to non-specialists. Prior technical writing, published research, or expert witness experience is a strong signal — please include a writing sample or link in your application.

Note: 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 time without penalty.

Important Notice

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