Materials Scientist; Remote

Materials Science Domain Expert

Position:Materials Science Domain Expert

Type:Full-Time W-2 Employment

Compensation:$70–$110/hour

Location:Hybrid

About the Opportunity

Cincinnatus LLC is hiring a senior Materials Science Domain Expert to work directly with the research and program management teams of a leading AI lab. The role focuses on improving how frontier AI models reason about real-world materials science and materials engineering problems.

Your materials expertise will be central to the role. You will evaluate the quality of materials science knowledge-work tasks and model outputs, create detailed instruction specifications and gold-standard solutions, and develop benchmarks that measure whether AI systems are genuinely improving.

This is a full-time W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, with the opportunity to be placed within a leading AI lab's extended workforce. You will receive client-issued accounts and equipment and work within the client's tools alongside their research teams.

This is a hybrid, non-remote position. Candidates must currently live in the Bay Area and be able to work on-site with the client's team multiple days each week when required. Candidates outside the Bay Area must be willing to relocate at their own expense before the engagement begins. Relocation assistance is not provided.

Responsibilities

• Review and evaluate the quality of materials science knowledge-work tasks and AI-generated outputs.
• Identify missing behaviors, weak reasoning, unsupported structure-property claims, and technically inaccurate conclusions.
• Assess whether AI-generated answers can withstand professional materials science and engineering scrutiny.
• Write detailed instruction specifications that define expected approaches and evaluation standards.
• Develop gold-standard solutions for complex materials science problems.
• Create new materials science tasks that accurately reflect real-world professional workflows.
• Design challenging evaluation sets and domain-specific benchmarks for AI model assessment.
• Help develop materials-specific capabilities, skills, and tools in collaboration with AI research teams.
• Work with researchers and specialists in adjacent technical disciplines to maintain consistent evaluation standards.
• Translate expert materials science judgment and tacit knowledge into explicit, teachable criteria.
• Provide precise, structured written feedback on model performance and technical reasoning.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Materials Science, Materials Engineering, or a closely related discipline, such as:
• Chemistry
• Chemical Engineering
• Applied Physics
• Metallurgy
• A Master's degree with exceptional industrial depth may be considered.
• At least 4 years of substantive research or industrial R&D experience in materials science or materials engineering.
• Experience at a research university, national laboratory, or industrial research organization.
• Graduate coursework alone does not count toward the required experience.
• Demonstrated specialization in at least one materials science area.
• Clear progression to a senior-level position with meaningful ownership of research direction.
• Hands-on professional use of large language models.
• Ability to distinguish technically well-reasoned answers from plausible but incorrect AI-generated responses.
• Excellent written communication skills.
• Ability to provide precise, well-structured technical feedback.
• Availability to commit 40 hours per week for an initial 6-month engagement.
• Must currently live in the Bay Area, California, or be willing to relocate there at personal expense.
• Must be able to work on-site with the client multiple days per week when required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Peer-reviewed publications in materials science or related disciplines.
• Granted patents or demonstrated ownership of significant materials programs.
• Experience developing or evaluating technical benchmarks.
• Experience translating complex technical expertise into structured evaluation criteria.
• Experience collaborating across materials science, chemistry, physics, engineering, or AI research teams.
• Demonstrated leadership in research direction, technical strategy, or industrial R&D.

Key Areas of Expertise

Candidates should have genuine specialization in at least one of the following areas:

• Energy storage and battery materials
• Semiconductor and electronic materials
• Polymers and soft matter
• Structural alloys and metallurgy
• Materials characterization and microscopy
• Computational materials science and simulation
• Materials…