Specialty Materials Chemist - Pyrotechnics/Propulsion
Listing checked September 15, 2026 · pay as published by Mercor
Overview
Neon seeks chemists who have formulated, synthesized, and tested energetic materials in licensed or government labs. The work supports a red-team panel that checks whether frontier AI models can separate a routine technical request from a dangerous one. You will write prompts that sit on the benign, dual-use, and adversarial lines, then judge model responses against a policy standard. Expect a writing-heavy task with room to pause, and a strict rule against using classified or export-controlled data.
What You'll Do6
- 1Write single-turn prompts in pyrotechnics, propellant chemistry, and specialty energetic materials.
- 2Label each prompt as benign, dual-use, or adversarial based on misuse potential.
- 3Review model answers against the project's policy standard and decide if each reply is correct.
- 4Compose reference answers that show the right response and the technical reasoning behind it.
- 5Explain your judgments in plain language so non-specialists can follow the rationale.
- 6Identify borderline cases where a safe refusal and an unsafe answer look similar.
Requirements9
- 1Hands-on experience formulating, synthesizing, or testing specialty energetic materials in a licensed or government site.
- 2Direct work with pyrotechnics, propellants, or energetic compounds.
- 3Familiarity with calorimetry, thermal stability testing, and small-scale safety testing.
- 4Background in scale-up and process safety for energetic material production.
- 5Knowledge of solid or liquid rocket propellant development, including binders, oxidizers, and burn-rate modifiers.
- 6Ability to write clear technical rationales for readers outside the specialty.
- 7Red-teaming or model evaluation experience helps.
- 8Comfort reading and writing about misuse scenarios for sustained periods.
- 9No reliance on classified, export-controlled, NDA-covered, or prepublication-restricted information.
Who Should Apply
The ideal applicant has spent time in a licensed or government lab formulating, characterizing, and testing energetic materials, not just modeling them from a desk. You can separate a routine thermal-stability question from a request that is fishing for design help, and you can put that distinction in writing. Prior red-teaming, published research, or expert witness work will strengthen an application. This role is a poor match for generalists, desk-only computational chemists, or anyone who cannot share a technical writing sample. Candidates often lose fit score when they lack hands-on lab experience or submit no sample that shows how they explain dual-use judgment.
Salary Insight
The listing pays $75 as a one-time amount. That figure covers a single task-based contribution rather than time-based pay or salary, so clarify the expected scope before you commit.
Pay and demand for Laboratory & Research Operations roles
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$80/hour
This role
$75 fixed
Most Laboratory & Research Operations roles pay $70–$90 per hour.
Based on 65 similar roles that publish pay · 9 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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Hiring most right now: micro1 (26) · Mercor (18) · Neon (9)
Most requested skills · share of roles
- technical writing22%
- physics21%
- chemistry18%
- scientific writing17%
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Compensation
$75 fixed
Required Skills
Application Tip
Attach a redacted technical writing sample or published paper that shows how you explain sensitivity, handling limits, or process safety to a non-specialist. If you have red-teaming experience, name the model or evaluation task and describe one prompt you wrote.
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