Engineering Simulation Specialist

What you'll do

This is one of the more inventive evaluation formats on Mercor. Instead of writing a question with an answer key, you build a small engineering world and ask the model to design something inside it.

How a task works:

1. You write a simulation in Python, a set of specs with quantitative pass/fail thresholds, and a prompt
2. The model gets a limited number of calls to probe your simulation
3. It submits a final design: controller gains, circuit parameters, geometry
4. An agentic grader runs your simulation and scores how many specs the design meets

The point is to test first-principles reasoning, not recall. A task that the model can solve by remembering a textbook answer, or by brute-forcing your simulation within its call budget, is a weak task. The ad puts it well: you need to design a problem you cannot shortcut yourself but can still judge rigorously.

One perk the ad calls out: you get to see the model's internal reasoning on your own tasks, which is unusual and genuinely interesting if you care how these systems think.

Who fits

• Deep applied expertise in control systems, analog or RF circuits, power electronics or mechanical design
• A PhD, or an equivalent industry track record
• Comfort writing simulations in Python and expressing acceptance criteria as testable numeric thresholds
• Comfort with a browser-based studio and GitHub

Prior model-evaluation experience is not required.

What it pays

$60–90 per hour, paid weekly on Stripe or Wise. The ad does not say what sets your rate within the band.

Support

Onboarding calls run daily, and there is internal tooling to speed up authoring.

Worth knowing

Good:

• A creative, engineering-heavy format rather than rubric grading
• Visibility into the model's reasoning on your tasks
• No evaluation experience needed; daily onboarding
• Industry experience accepted in place of a PhD

Less good:

• Writing a simulation that resists shortcuts is slow, unglamorous work
• No hours, duration or pay criteria published
• Projects can be extended, shortened or ended early
• H-1B and STEM OPT holders are excluded

About this listing

Posted by Mercor as a remote hourly contract, read on 24 September 2026. The task format, pay band, support and payment terms are the ad's own; the project runs with a leading AI research lab that is not named. See Mercor.