Role Overview
Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on Project Atlas — an initiative to build realistic enterprise environments that frontier AI agents are trained and evaluated in. We're seeking experienced pharmaceutical-research professionals from Fortune 500 pharma and biotech companies (e.g., Pfizer, Merck, J&J, AbbVie, Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Moderna, Regeneron) and major academic research centers to recreate the digital workspaces they run every day and design the tasks that genuinely challenge state-of-the-art AI.
You'll bring your expertise in drug discovery, preclinical / translational research, clinical development, or regulatory / CMC to build a high-fidelity environment that mirrors the tools, files, and workflows of a regulated pharma R&D enterprise — and then author tasks grounded in the programs you actually run today.
Key Responsibilities
- Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the Drive folders you use day-to-day — the study protocols, investigator brochures, IND / NDA drafts, pharmacology reports, biomarker analyses, CMC technical reports, DMC briefing documents, and email threads that reflect how you actually organize your work — with some representation of the platforms that support it (e.g., Medidata Rave / Oracle Clinical One, Schrödinger Suite, Benchling / LabArchives)
- Design multi-step tasks grounded in your real workflows that require navigating multiple apps, files, and stakeholders in a way that meaningfully challenges frontier AI agents
- Collaborate with other pharmaceutical-research experts in your field to design the environment, shape task scope, and review each other's scenarios for realism and rigor
- Work asynchronously with research teams to refine task designs and evaluation criteria for pharma-research agent benchmarks
- Contribute to frontier AI research and benchmarking — the work you produce directly informs how leading labs train and evaluate the next generation of AI systems
Ideal Qualifications
- PhD / MD / PharmD or MS with deep experience; industry fellowship training a plus
- 3+ years of full-time experience at a Fortune 500 pharma / biotech or top academic research center
- Background in one or more areas such as:
- Target ID / drug discovery (medicinal chemistry, biology, HTS, DMPK)
- Preclinical / translational research (PK/PD, tox, biomarker)
- Clinical development (Phase I–IV, biostatistics, clinical operations)
- Regulatory affairs (IND, NDA, BLA, EMA) or CMC
- Real-world evidence / HEOR / pharmacovigilance
- Day-to-day use of Medidata Rave / Oracle Clinical One, Schrödinger Suite / MOE (CCG), and Benchling / LabArchives
- Strong analytical thinking and writing — able to translate pharma R&D workflows into structured task specs
Compensation Note
This project is expected to begin on an effective hourly rate, but will transition to a model where experts are compensated based on throughput of quality work rather than a flat accruing hourly rate.
About Mercor
Mercor is a talent marketplace that connects top experts with leading AI labs and research organizations. Backed by investors including Benchmark, General Catalyst, Adam D'Angelo, and Jack Dorsey. Thousands of professionals across domains contribute to projects shaping the next generation of AI systems.