Applied Biology Benchmark Specialist

$60–75/hrrate as listed

Write and verify expert-level multiple-choice biology questions — one correct answer plus nine subtly wrong distractors — with step-by-step solutions and peer-reviewed citations. Work is asynchronous and remote at an observed $60–75/hr, with an expected commitment of 10+ hours per week.

Summary, eligibility guidance and screening preparation are prepared by Sidequest from the platform's posting. Check the source listing before applying.

What the work involves

You'll be assigned to one of two task streams. Authoring means building original questions in your subdomain — pharmaceutical manufacturing, industrial and synthetic biology, medical research and drug discovery, or agricultural, environmental and food biology — that test reasoning rather than recall. Each item needs a self-contained stem with no missing assumptions, one defensible correct answer, nine plausible distractors that a competent PhD could fall for, a markdown Chain-of-Thought solution with clean intermediate steps, and one to five references from peer-reviewed journals or university repositories. You also assign a difficulty tier: Medium (intro undergraduate), Hard (advanced undergraduate), or Expert (post-graduate and above).

Verification is the mirror image: you receive pre-written questions and interrogate them for ambiguity, incompleteness, imprecision, or outright unsolvability. You edit where the item can be saved, flag it where it can't, re-rate difficulty, and document what you changed and why. Verification tends to be less glamorous and more forensic — a great deal of the value is in catching the item where two of the ten options are technically both correct.

What the platform screens for

Mercor's screening is AI-led and leans on verifiable specificity. Expect probing on your actual subdomain — not "biology" but the assays, regulatory constraints, pathways, or organisms you personally worked with — with follow-ups that go a layer deeper than your first answer. Screens also test item-writing judgment: whether you can distinguish a hard question from an ambiguous one, whether you understand what makes a distractor plausible rather than merely wrong, and whether you can justify a difficulty rating against a defined rubric. Credentials matter (PhD or doctoral candidate; master's accepted with exceptional depth), but demonstrated depth under follow-up matters more.

Logistics

Fully remote, fully asynchronous — no fixed hours or standing calls
Expected commitment 10+ hours/week; throughput expectations are per-item, not per-hour
Observed pay band $60–75/hr, varying by domain and task type; not guaranteed
Work is typically batched, so volume can fluctuate between project waves

What they look for

PhD or doctoral candidacy in biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a closely related field
Graduate-level command of a specific biology subdomain (drug discovery, synthetic biology, pharma manufacturing, or agri/environmental/food biology)
Experience writing or reviewing rigorous assessment items, especially multiple-choice with plausible distractors
Ability to write clear step-by-step technical solutions in markdown
Fluency locating and citing peer-reviewed primary literature
Precise written English for unambiguous problem statements

Before you apply

Would you pass this screen?

Drawn from what this listing actually requires. Answered in your browser — nothing is sent to us, and we do not store your answers.

Do you hold a PhD in Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, or a closely related field, or a Master's degree in one of these fields?
PhD or Master's in Biology or Related Field · required
Do you have hands-on research or laboratory experience in one of the four biology domains covered (Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Industrial & Synthetic Biology, Medical Research & Drug Discovery, or Agricultural & Environmental & Food Biology)?
Research or Laboratory Experience · preferred
Do you have at least one peer-reviewed publication or technical contribution (e.g., lab protocol published, thesis chapter in repository) in a relevant biology field?
Publication Track Record · preferred
Can you commit 10 or more hours per week to asynchronous, remote work with no fixed schedule over the next 3 months?
10+ Hours Per Week Availability · required
Do you have advanced proficiency in written English, demonstrated by published work, academic writing, or professional technical writing?
Fluent English Writing · required
Can you author or verify Expert-level multiple-choice questions in at least one of the four domains: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Industrial & Synthetic Biology, Medical Research & Drug Discovery, or Agricultural & Environmental & Food Biology?
Expertise in At Least One Listed Domain · required

0 of 6 answered

Included with this listing

Interview prep — 12 questions

Matched to what this platform's screening actually measures. Answer each out loud in 60–90 seconds: claim → concrete example → implication.

What it tests: Whether the candidate has genuine doctoral-level depth in a domain where they'll author or verify questions, not just a credential on paper.
A strong answer: Name the dissertation topic, the specific biological mechanisms or processes studied, and explicitly map it to Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Industrial/Synthetic Biology, Medical Research, or Agricultural/Environmental/Food Biology—showing this isn't tangential expertise.
Where people lose it: Describing the degree generally without connecting dissertation research to the listed domains, or claiming expertise in an adjacent field (e.g., ecology) when the role demands the four specified areas.