Private Equity & Venture Capital - Finance Domain Expert

What you'll do

The top-paying seat in Mercor's Bay Area finance program. It shares its job text with the generalist Finance Domain Expert and the Investment Banking & M&A version, but targets investors: people who have sat on the buy side, underwritten deals and defended them at investment committee.

Six months, full-time, working with a leading AI lab's research and program management teams inside the lab's own tools:

• Data QA: review finance tasks and model outputs for thin reasoning and flawed assumptions, including the answers that sound convincing and would still be torn apart at IC
• Instruction specs and golden solutions: set out what a correct answer is, and design new tasks that reflect how investment work is actually done
• Benchmarks: build challenging evaluation sets and finance-specific tools with the research team
• Calibration: make investor judgment explicit enough to teach, alongside researchers and adjacent specialists

The ad names private equity and credit funds among the qualifying institutions and Principal and Portfolio Manager among the target titles. It does not describe venture-specific work, so VC candidates should spell out their diligence and portfolio experience clearly in the application.

Who qualifies

• 5+ years of dedicated finance experience at a recognised institution (PE or credit fund, investment bank, asset manager, Big Four, large corporate finance function or regulator)
• Genuine specialisation in private equity or venture capital
• Progression to VP, Director, Principal, MD or Portfolio Manager with real ownership of decisions
• An MBA, MS or PhD from a strong program and/or a CFA, CPA, FRM or actuarial designation, strongly preferred
• Hands-on professional use of LLMs
• 40 hours a week for an initial 6 months
• Living in the Bay Area, or relocating at your own cost

What it pays

$110–150 per hour: the same ceiling as the IB version with a $10 higher floor, and well above the $60–100 generalist seat. At 40 hours a week that annualises to roughly $229,000–312,000, though the first term is six months and carries no carry or bonus.

Employment terms

Full-time W-2 employment with Cincinnatus LLC, the employer of record, separate from Mercor. Pay frequency and visa terms are not published on the listing.

Worth knowing

Good:

• The highest floor in the program
• W-2 with benefits
• Bay Area location suits VC professionals already there

Less good:

• Hybrid Bay Area only; relocation at your own expense
• Six-month term, no stated path beyond it
• No carry or bonus, which is where much PE compensation sits
• The lab is not named

About this listing

Posted by Mercor for a Cincinnatus LLC placement, confirmed open on 24 September 2026. Pay, location rules, hours and qualifications are the ad's own. See Mercor.