hackajob is collaborating with Mercor to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

Mercor is working with a **leading intelligence AI lab** to identify the most important open questions in core AI/ML fields and to build structured knowledge bases that could meaningfully accelerate progress over the next decade. We’re looking for exceptional PhD students and PostDocs with a clear point of view on what problems truly matter in their field and the depth to define how those problems could be tackled. ### Eligibility Requirement You will need to fill a short form in order to be eligible for this role: You will see this in addition to the AI interview in your application process. Below is guidance for what you will need to have in order to fill the form: Consider the biggest open questions in your field, for example, the 10–15 questions where a breakthrough would make headline news. From this set, select those closest to your area of expertise: questions within or adjacent to your specialty, or those where you could mentor an expert toward meaningful progress. Specifically, we are looking for questions where: - A major breakthrough would be widely recognized as transformative (e.g., headline news in _Nature_, _Science_, or top field-specific venues) - Meaningful progress is plausible within the next decade (not purely speculative or dependent on unknown technology) - The question is concrete enough that progress can be evaluated (avoid umbrella questions like “How does the ML work?”) - You have the relevant expertise to assemble a comprehensive knowledge base directly relevant to the question ### What You’ll Do **1\. Identify high-impact open questions** - Propose major open questions where a breakthrough would be transformative - Focus on problems that are concrete, tractable, and close to your expertise **2\. Build a knowledge base for selected questions** - Seminal papers, key datasets, methods, recent advances, and “hidden gems” - Assume an extremely strong expert all knowledge up until 6 months ago (1st October, 2025) **Time commitment:** ~8–16 hours per selected question ### Who We’re Looking For - PhD candidates or PostDocs from top-tier institutions - Deep expertise in AI/ML/Engineering - Strong judgment about significance, tractability, and research quality - Ability to synthesize large bodies of literature into clear learning paths - **Openings:** ~50 experts per domain ### Expected Outputs - Clearly articulated, high-impact open research questions - Structured reading lists (~30–100 sources per question) - Brief expert commentary on why each source and approach matters