Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineer - Remote Task-Based
Listing checked September 15, 2026 · pay as published by Mercor
Overview
A task-based remote role puts you on a panel of nuclear fuel cycle and safeguards specialists who red-team frontier AI models. The core question is whether a model can tell a legitimate technical request from a misuse request, answering safe questions in full while refusing dangerous ones. You write single-turn prompts across benign, dual-use, and adversarial levels, then judge model replies against a set policy. Because fuel-cycle work sits on the dual-use line, the panel needs practitioners who know which parameters are routine engineering and which point toward proliferation. Your written reference answers show what a correct response should look like and why.
What You'll Do7
- 1Create single-turn prompts in fuel-cycle and safeguards domains, tagging each as benign, dual-use, or adversarial.
- 2Review model responses against the project policy standard, deciding if each reply handled the request as required.
- 3Write reference answers that capture the correct response and the technical reasoning behind it.
- 4Pinpoint where a routine engineering question turns into a request that could support proliferation or misuse.
- 5Document a written rationale for every judgment so people outside nuclear engineering can follow the call.
- 6Work with other nuclear materials and safeguards experts on a shared red-teaming panel.
- 7Read and write about misuse scenarios in your field for sustained sessions, with the option to pause or step away.
Requirements7
- 1Hands-on experience in at least one fuel-cycle area: enrichment, conversion, fuel fabrication, reprocessing, spent fuel management, criticality safety, systems analysis, or facility safety and licensing.
- 2Knowledge of which fuel-cycle parameters belong to routine engineering and which attract interest from someone seeking a proliferation pathway.
- 3Ability to distinguish a normal professional question from one fishing for sensitive details.
- 4Strong technical writing, with a sample or link; published research or expert witness work is a plus.
- 5Red-teaming experience is helpful.
- 6No current classified, export-controlled, NDA, or prepublication review obligations. If you hold them, disclose that in your application so we can scope the work.
- 7Comfort with reading and writing about misuse scenarios in your field over long sessions.
Who Should Apply
The strongest candidate has worked inside the fuel cycle, whether in enrichment, reprocessing, fabrication, criticality safety, or back-end fuel management, and can point to a specific parameter, limit, or material-balance example that marks the dual-use line. You write technical prose that non-specialists can follow, and you can provide a sample or link. This panel suits practitioners who want to test AI safety on nuclear materials and safeguards questions and who can review misuse scenarios in short sessions. General nuclear policy or radiation protection backgrounds without fuel-cycle depth tend to fit less well. A common reason applications score low is a resume that lists fuel-cycle topics but never shows a concrete judgment call. Another is failure to address classified, export-controlled, NDA, or prepublication obligations; state your status in the application.
Salary Insight
The compensation is a one-time $75 payment for this task-based engagement. That rate fits a short expert assignment such as prompt writing and response evaluation, not a multi-week fuel-cycle consulting contract.
Pay and demand for Cybersecurity roles
AggregatedTypical pay
$70/hour
This role
$75 fixed
Most Cybersecurity roles pay $50–$85 per hour.
Based on 61 similar roles that publish pay · 10 publish only a top rate; those count at the rate they gave
Rates shown per hour. Yearly and monthly pay converted; one-time fees and non-USD pay are not included.
- Live similar roles
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- Listed in last 30 days
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- Remote
- 97%
Hiring most right now: Neon (27) · micro1 (18) · Handshake AI (15)
Most requested skills · share of roles
- technical writing28%
- red teaming27%
- penetration testing23%
- reverse engineering21%
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Compensation
$75 fixed
Required Skills
Application Tip
Name one fuel-cycle process you owned, such as a criticality safety evaluation, enrichment cascade throughput study, or spent fuel separations campaign, and describe a specific parameter or limit that separates routine engineering from a safeguards concern. Add a technical writing sample or link, and state any NDA, export-control, or prepublication obligations up front.
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