Bilingual Norwegian STEM Expert (PhD): AI Safety

What you'll do

At $77–81 an hour this is the top of Mercor's bilingual AI safety series, and the premium reflects a narrow pool: scientists with a doctorate in chemistry or biology who can also write precise technical Norwegian. The goal is to make sure an AI model handles sensitive science as carefully in Norwegian as it does in English.

The work:

• Writing expert-level prompts in Norwegian on specialised scientific topics
• Evaluating and annotating model responses for scientific accuracy, helpfulness and handling of sensitive content
• Classifying prompts and conversations with structured guidelines

The subject range covers chemical, biological, and radiological and nuclear science. The main skill is dual-use judgment: knowing where an ordinary research or teaching question ends and a request for dangerous capability begins, and checking that the model's answer respects that line. The role tests safeguards; it does not involve producing harmful content.

One gap in the ad: it does not say whether Bokmål, Nynorsk or both are expected. If you write mainly in one, ask during the process.

No AI experience is needed; Mercor trains you on the workflow.

Who qualifies

• A PhD in chemistry, biology or a closely related field, ongoing or completed
• The depth to write across chemical, biological, or radiological and nuclear subject areas
• Native or near-native Norwegian and business-level written English
• Deep familiarity with modern laboratory and computational techniques in your subfield
• Sound judgment on scientific safety and dual-use information

The ad also values a clear specialism over general coverage (organic or inorganic synthesis, molecular biology, microbiology, virology, genetics and the like), radiological and nuclear expertise from a chemistry route (radiochemistry, nuclear chemistry, energetic materials, radiation physics), work touching chemical security, biosafety or hazardous-materials handling, and experience reviewing, grading or red-teaming technical content.

Unlike most listings in the series, the preference here is for Norway specifically, not a wider region. It remains a preference: applicants elsewhere are welcome.

What it pays

$77–81 per hour, Mercor's published figure. That is $19 above the Norwegian generalist role ($58–62) and ahead of the Japanese ($68–72) and Korean ($63–67) STEM versions, the next highest.

Payments are weekly via Stripe or Wise, based on services rendered.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Highest rate in the series, for flexible part-time remote work
• Doctoral candidates qualify, not just graduates
• Uses real scientific expertise, not routine labelling
• 4 hires this month when we checked; immediate start

Less good:

• The subject matter is hazardous science by design
• Written variety of Norwegian not specified
• No stated weekly hours, project length or end client; projects can be extended, shortened or ended early
• Independent contractor with no benefits; in Norway that means handling your own tax as self-employed income
• H-1B and STEM OPT candidates excluded

About this listing

Posted by Mercor as a part-time remote position, confirmed open on 24 September 2026. Pay, requirements, location preference and payment terms are the ad's own; the comparisons with the other language versions are ours. See Mercor.