Materials Science Domain Expert

What you'll do

The highest-paid of Mercor's three Bay Area domain expert placements this round, and the one most open to industry scientists. A leading AI lab wants a materials specialist on site for six months, full time, to improve how its models reason about materials science and engineering.

The work:

• Review: vet materials tasks and model output for missing steps, thin reasoning, unsupported structure-to-property claims, and answers that would not survive technical scrutiny
• Golden data: write instruction specs and model-grade solutions, and define new tasks that reflect real materials work
• Benchmarks: design demanding materials evaluation sets and help build materials-specific skills and tools with the researchers
• Calibration: work with researchers and adjacent specialists to make tacit materials judgment explicit and teachable

The "structure to property" line matters most. Models are good at repeating that a finer grain size raises yield strength; the value you add is knowing when the Hall-Petch relationship stops applying, or why a claimed conductivity improvement is really a processing artifact.

Who fits

• A PhD in materials science, materials engineering or a close field (chemistry, chemical engineering, applied physics, metallurgy); a master's with exceptional industrial depth may be considered
• 4+ years of substantive research or industrial R&D in materials at a university, national lab or industrial research organization (coursework does not count)
• Specialization in at least one area: energy storage and batteries, semiconductors and electronic materials, polymers and soft matter, structural alloys and metallurgy, characterization and microscopy, or computational materials
• Progression to a senior role (Senior or Staff Scientist, Research Lead, PI or senior industrial R&D) with ownership of research direction
• Publications, granted patents or shipped materials programs (strongly preferred)
• Hands-on professional LLM use and the judgment to catch a plausible wrong answer
• 40 hours a week for an initial six months, plus precise written feedback

Unlike the life sciences sibling, patents and shipped programs count alongside publications, and a master's is not ruled out. That makes this a realistic option for battery, semiconductor or alloy engineers from industry.

Location: not remote

A hybrid role in the Bay Area, explicitly not remote. You must live there and work on-site with the client team several days a week when required. If you live elsewhere you must relocate at your own cost; no assistance is offered.

What it pays

$70–110 per hour, Mercor's published band, the top of the three sibling placements (Biochemistry & Life Sciences is $65–105, Business & Sales Operations is $60–100). Employment is W-2 through Cincinnatus LLC, which handles payroll, benefits and compliance. Payment frequency and method are not published on the listing.

Worth knowing

Good:

• W-2 employment with benefits
• Industry R&D, patents and shipped programs are recognized alongside academic output
• Highest band among the sibling Bay Area placements
• Embedded with a frontier lab's research team

Less good:

• Must live in, or relocate at your own cost to, the Bay Area
• Senior research role and 4+ years required
• No information on what follows the initial six months
• Wide pay band with no stated basis for placement

About this listing

Posted by Mercor as a full-time position in the Bay Area with a US location requirement, confirmed open on 24 September 2026. Employment is with Cincinnatus LLC, separate from Mercor. Pay, qualifications and location terms are the ad's own. See Mercor.