[Contract] PhD-Level Bioinformatics Experts

[Contract] PhD-Level Bioinformatics Experts

Mercor

Remote

Mercor is seeking expert bioinformaticians for a high-priority benchmark evaluation project with one of the world's leading AI labs.

In this role, you will independently solve challenging bioinformatics data-analysis problems. You will work through difficult tasks that require analyzing large biological datasets and submitting your complete analytical workflows as Jupyter notebooks. Your work directly informs how frontier AI models are evaluated on real scientific reasoning.

This is a solving role, not a problem-writing role. You will work under a blind protocol. Each task is attempted independently with no prior context.

Ideal Qualifications:

• PhD or Master's degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, or a closely related field;
• Hands-on experience with at least 2 of the following: RNA-seq analysis, variant calling, metagenomic classification, epigenomic profiling (ChIP-seq/methylation), single-cell analysis, or population genetics;
• Proficiency in Python and/or R for bioinformatics pipelines;
• Experience producing well-documented, reproducible Jupyter notebooks;
• Some familiarity with command-line tools (e.g, samtools);
• Strong independent problem-solving ability — you will work without guidance on ambiguous analytical tasks.

Key Responsibilities:

• Solve difficult bioinformatics problems spanning diverse subdomains (transcriptomics, genomics, virology, and more).

Timeline:

• 4-week engagement starting in March;
• Tasks are assigned on a rolling basis.

Interview Process:

• Short screening questionnaire to assess subdomain expertise and tool familiarity.

We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.

Contract and Payment Terms:

• You will be engaged as an independent contractor;
• This is a fully remote role that can be completed on your own schedule;
• Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance;
• Your work at Mercor will not involve access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution;
• Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise based on services rendered;
• Please note: We are unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time.