Analytical Chemist - Remote AI Red-Teaming
Listing checked September 15, 2026 · pay as published by Mercor
Overview
Chemistry and chemical safety specialists will join a red-team panel that probes how well frontier AI models handle misuse risk. The task centers on single-turn prompts written at three labels: benign, dual-use, and adversarial, and on judging each prompt against a policy standard. You also draft reference answers that show the correct response and explain the technical reasoning. Relevant method areas include GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, IR, and NMR, plus trace-level validation and unknown identification.
What You'll Do6
- 1Craft challenging single-turn prompts in analytical chemistry and label each as benign, dual-use, or adversarial.
- 2Review model replies against a fixed policy standard and decide if each reply met that standard.
- 3Write reference answers that describe the correct response and the technical reasoning behind it.
- 4Draw the line between routine professional questions and requests that seek harmful information.
- 5Document your judgments in written rationales that a non-specialist can follow.
- 6Evaluate whether a model answered a legitimate question fully while refusing genuinely dangerous ones.
Requirements10
- 1Method development and validation for trace-level analysis of hazardous compounds.
- 2Detection and identification using GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, IR, or NMR.
- 3Environmental, occupational, or emergency-response sampling and analysis.
- 4Reference standards, spectral libraries, and unknown identification.
- 5Laboratory accreditation, QA/QC, and proficiency testing.
- 6Ability to tell a routine professional question from one seeking misuse information.
- 7Technical writing, published research, or expert witness experience. Include a sample or link.
- 8Red-teaming experience with AI models or similar adversarial evaluation is ideal.
- 9Disclose any classified, export-controlled, NDA, or prepublication-review obligations in your application.
- 10Comfort reading and writing about misuse scenarios in chemistry for sustained periods.
Who Should Apply
The strongest applicant has built and validated methods for hazardous compounds, knows what a detection limit really means, and can explain that judgment in writing. Experience with GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, IR, or NMR, plus environmental, occupational, or emergency-response sampling, fits the prompts you will write. Candidates who cannot separate a routine method-validation question from one fishing for evasion tactics will struggle, because every prompt sits on that dual-use line. The work involves sustained reading and writing about misuse scenarios, though the team briefs you in advance and you can pause or step away without penalty. Applicants often lose fit when they submit no writing sample or link, despite the role being writing-intensive; another common miss is ignoring the classified, export-controlled, NDA, or prepublication-review disclosure requirement.
Salary Insight
The posting lists a one-time $75 payment. For task-based AI red-teaming, this is a modest per-task rate, often tied to a small, defined deliverable rather than ongoing work.
Pay and demand for Data Science & Analytics roles
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$68/hour
This role
$75 fixed
Most Data Science & Analytics roles pay $45–$85 per hour.
Based on 181 similar roles that publish pay · 24 publish only a top rate; those count at the rate they gave
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Hiring most right now: micro1 (93) · Neon (31) · Turing (27)
Most requested skills · share of roles
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- data analysis11%
- technical writing10%
- red teaming10%
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Compensation
$75 fixed
Required Skills
Application Tip
Include a writing sample or link that shows you can explain a technical chemistry judgment to a non-specialist. Pair it with one quantified example of method validation, such as a detection limit you established for a hazardous compound, because the panel screens for both dual-use discernment and clear written rationale.
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