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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 research-operations and research-administration professionals from top R1 universities, major academic medical centers, NIH / federal research agencies, and large nonprofit research organizations 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 pre- / post-award grants management, research compliance, sponsored-programs administration, or core-facility operations to build a high-fidelity environment that mirrors the tools, files, and cross-functional workflows of a serious research 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 grant proposals, budgets and budget justifications, IRB / IACUC protocols, post-award financial reports, effort certifications, compliance training records, and email threads that reflect how you actually organize your work — with some representation of the platforms that support it (e.g., SharePoint / Box, DocuSign, ADP Workforce Now)

• 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 research-operations and administration 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 research-administration 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 - 3+ years of full-time experience at a top R1 university, academic medical center, federal research agency, or large research nonprofit
• Background in one or more areas such as : - Pre-award grants management (NIH, NSF, DOE, DoD, foundation grants) - Post-award financial / compliance management (Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR 200, FFR / RPPR) - Sponsored-programs administration or contract negotiation - Research compliance (IRB, IACUC, IBC, COI, export control) - Core-facility / shared-resource operations
• Certifications a plus : CRA, CPRA, CFRA
• Day-to-day use of SharePoint / Box, DocuSign, Mendeley / EndNote, and ADP Workforce Now / UKG Pro
• Strong analytical thinking and writing — able to translate research-admin 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.