Bilingual Thai STEM Expert (PhD): AI Safety

What you'll do

Thai is a language where AI safety behaviour is much less tested than in English, and scientific Thai is rarer still: a lot of Thai graduate training happens partly in English, so a scientist who can write a precise technical question in natural Thai is the specific skill this listing is after.

The tasks:

• Write expert-level prompts in Thai on specialised scientific topics
• Evaluate and annotate model responses for scientific accuracy, helpfulness and appropriate handling of sensitive content
• Classify prompts and conversations using structured guidelines

The subject areas are chemical, biological, and radiological and nuclear science. The judgment you bring is about dual use: separating legitimate research, teaching and safety questions from requests for genuinely dangerous capability, and checking that a model responds to each appropriately in Thai. You are probing the model's safeguards, not writing harmful material.

No AI background is required and Mercor provides training on the workflow.

Who qualifies

• A PhD in chemistry, biology or a closely related field, completed or in progress
• Enough breadth to write across chemical, biological, or radiological and nuclear topics
• Native or near-native Thai, plus business-level written English
• Hands-on knowledge of modern laboratory and computational techniques in your subfield
• Sound judgment on scientific safety and dual-use information

Nice to have: deep specialisation in one subfield (for example synthesis, molecular biology, microbiology, virology or genetics); radiological and nuclear coverage from a chemistry background such as radiochemistry, nuclear chemistry, energetic materials or radiation physics; research or coursework in chemical security, biosafety or hazardous-materials handling; and prior reviewing, grading or red-teaming of technical content.

Thailand or the wider Southeast Asia region is preferred, but applicants anywhere are welcome.

What it pays

$24–28 per hour, Mercor's published rate. This is at the bottom of the STEM series, close to the Hindi version ($23–27) and far below the European and East Asian ones ($48–81). The Thai generalist role pays $18–22, so the PhD adds $6 an hour.

How attractive that is depends heavily on where you live. Compare it with local postdoc or lecturer pay rather than with the Nordic listings; for a Thai-based researcher, a flexible remote rate in this range may look quite different than it does from abroad.

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

Worth knowing

Good:

• One of the more active listings in the series: 10 hires this month when we checked
• PhD candidates qualify
• Flexible hours, fully remote, immediate start
• No AI or machine-learning experience needed

Less good:

• The lowest-paid STEM tier alongside Hindi, for the same PhD-level bar
• Hazardous-science topics are the core of the work
• No weekly hours, project length or client named; projects can be extended, shortened or ended early
• Independent contractor, no benefits
• 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. The pay, requirements, location preference and payment terms are the ad's own; the regional comparisons are ours. See Mercor.