What the work involves

You write molecular biology problems that a strong model gets wrong, and then you write the correct answer with enough documentation that another PhD would agree with it. In practice that means sitting down with a design task — pick a sgRNA for a locus with a nearby off-target, design primers that discriminate a splice isoform, lay out a Gibson assembly with overlaps that actually anneal, build an HDR donor with homology arms sized for the edit — and producing the solution plus the reasoning trail. The other half of the day is review: reading model outputs against expert solutions and writing feedback that names the specific failure (a Tm mismatch between primer pairs, a PAM that doesn't exist in the given sequence, codon optimization that reintroduces a restriction site) rather than scoring it vaguely.

You will also write the rubrics other reviewers use. This is where the role gets genuinely hard: encoding guide and target selection criteria, homology arm length, primer specificity and Tm windows, codon usage and regulatory elements into rules that hold up across hundreds of tasks and don't collapse the moment someone brings an edge case.

What the screen looks for

  • Pre-experiment design experience, not just bench work. Mercor's screen probes whether you personally chose the sequence, not whether you ran the gel. Expect follow-ups that go a layer deeper than your first answer.
  • Breadth across construct types. Several of primers, plasmids/vectors, gRNA/sgRNA, mRNA, HDR templates — plus the cloning strategy behind them (Gibson, Golden Gate, Gateway, restriction).
  • Publication record, weighted toward first-author work in venues like Nature family, Cell, eLife, NAR, PNAS, EMBO J. Links are expected at application.
  • Written precision. Feedback that a research engineer can act on without a biology background.

Logistics

Remote and US-based. W-2 employment with Cincinnatus LLC as employer of record, placed inside a leading AI lab's extended workforce, with payroll, benefits and compliance handled. At least 20 hours per week on weekdays — this is a weekday-availability role, not evenings-and-weekends piecework. Pay observed in the $70–105/hr range; the actual offer depends on credentials and screen outcome and is not guaranteed.