Mathematical Physicist (PhD)
- Pay: $80 to $110 / hour
- Contract: Contract
- Who can apply: Open worldwide
- Posted Sep 25, 2026
In short
This remote freelance role on Mercor pays 80 to 110 USD per hour. You would work on research-level physics problems in your own subfield, helping test whether frontier AI models can reason like real researchers. It may suit postdocs, research scientists and strong PhD students who have published on a specific phenomenon.
What you will do
- Depending on your publication record, create, solve, review or audit research-level physics problems.
- Write clear, complete reasoning that another specialist in your subfield can follow and check on their own.
- Work in one of four narrow research areas, matched to the specific phenomena you have published on.
- Agree the exact assignment with the team once you have been matched to an area.
What you need to apply
- A PhD in mathematical physics, theoretical physics or mathematics. This is a hard requirement.
- Published work on the specific phenomenon of your chosen area, not only on nearby topics.
- A verifiable publication record of three to five representative papers with arXiv IDs or DOIs, ideally from the last five years, with first authorship strongly preferred.
- Working skills in LaTeX, Python, SymPy and Jupyter, plus English at B2 level or above, including written reasoning.
Who can apply
The role is open worldwide, with no country restriction stated. A PhD is required, but students may apply, and senior PhD students with a strong first-author record are welcome.
My tip
Read the benchmark paper arXiv:2509.26574 before you apply, since it will quickly show you whether this work interests you. We suggest choosing only the areas where your own papers clearly match the listed methods.