Bilingual Ukrainian STEM Expert (PhD): AI Safety

What you'll do

With 11 hires this month when we checked, this is one of the busiest listings in Mercor's bilingual AI safety series. It is aimed at scientists with a PhD (or one under way) in chemistry or biology who write technical Ukrainian well, and it exists because AI safety behaviour on sensitive science is checked far less thoroughly in Ukrainian than in English.

The work, as the ad lays it out:

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

The scientific areas are chemical, biological, and radiological and nuclear. What makes a good contributor is dual-use judgment: separating the legitimate research, teaching and safety questions a model should answer from the requests for dangerous capability it should decline, and checking which way it actually goes in Ukrainian. The role evaluates safeguards; it does not involve writing harmful material.

No AI background is required. Mercor trains you on the workflow.

Who qualifies

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

Preferred: a defined specialism rather than breadth (organic or inorganic synthesis, molecular biology, microbiology, virology, genetics and similar); radiological and nuclear coverage from a chemistry background (radiochemistry, nuclear chemistry, energetic materials or radiation physics); research or coursework in chemical safety and security, biosafety or hazardous-materials handling; and experience reviewing, grading or red-teaming technical content.

Ukraine or the wider Eastern Europe region is preferred, and the ad is explicit that applicants elsewhere are welcome. That opens it to Ukrainian scientists now working at universities and labs abroad.

What it pays

$48–52 per hour, Mercor's published figure. The Ukrainian generalist role pays $38–42, so the PhD is worth $10 an hour. The Croatian STEM version pays the same $48–52; Western European STEM versions pay $61–65.

Payments are weekly via Stripe or Wise, based on services rendered. If you are in Ukraine, confirm your payout route before starting; the ad does not address it.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Among the most active listings in the series (11 hires this month)
• PhD candidates are eligible
• Fully remote on your own schedule, immediate start
• Location is a preference only, so diaspora researchers qualify

Less good:

• Pays less than the Western European STEM versions for the same bar
• Hazardous-science topics are the core of the work
• No stated weekly hours, project length or end client; 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. Pay, requirements, location preference and payment terms are the ad's own; the comparisons are ours. See Mercor.