Pod lead - Scientific Computing / Research Engineering Expert - Earth Sciences

This role is for one of our clients

We are seeking an experienced Pod Lead – Scientific Computing / Research Engineering Expert in Earth Sciences to support an advanced AI training and evaluation initiative. This role combines scientific domain expertise, research software engineering, computational problem-solving, and technical leadership to develop realistic, challenging, and objectively verifiable terminal-based scientific tasks.

The successful candidate will help design and validate scientific workflows involving climate science, atmospheric processes, geophysics, oceanography, geology, hydrology, remote sensing, and environmental modeling. As a Pod Lead, you will guide task development, maintain scientific and technical quality standards, and ensure that computational tasks accurately reflect real-world research challenges.

The ideal candidate will have advanced research experience in Earth Sciences or a related discipline, strong scientific programming skills, and practical experience working in Linux and terminal-based computational environments.

Job Details

• Role: Pod Lead – Scientific Computing / Research Engineering Expert — Earth Sciences (Terminal Bench Science)
• Employment Type: Short-term contract
• Contract Duration: 4 weeks
• Eligible Locations: Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Turkey, and Vietnam
• Maximum Rate: USD 16 per hour
• Start Date: Immediate; the original brief indicates an expected start the following week
• Availability: Full-time commitment of 8 hours per day, with a minimum of 40 hours per week
• Time Zone Requirement: At least 4 hours of overlap with US Pacific Time (PST)

Key Responsibilities

• Content Analysis: Review and analyze complex educational content, research questions, datasets, logical puzzles, and academic scenarios.
• Research and Fact-Checking: Use credible online sources to verify claims, validate information, and assess the accuracy of responses.
• Information Synthesis: Summarize extensive information into concise, structured, coherent, and easy-to-understand explanations.
• AI Response Evaluation: Assess AI-generated answers for factual accuracy, relevance, completeness, clarity, and logical consistency.
• Feedback and Annotation: Identify errors, provide constructive corrections, and explain the reasoning behind suggested improvements.
• Educational Conversation Assessment: Review genuine conversation histories involving learning, academic work, exam preparation, research, projects, and skill development.
• Training Data Quality: Create analytical examples, annotations, and evaluation scenarios that help improve AI model performance.
• Independent Problem-Solving: Apply critical thinking, creativity, and lateral reasoning to unfamiliar questions and complex analytical tasks.

Required Qualifications

• At least 1 year of relevant experience.
• Recent graduate or currently pursuing a degree.
• Strong fluency in U.S. English (en-US), including reading comprehension, grammar, and written communication.
• An active, previously established Gemini App account with at least 18 months of conversation history.
• At least 10 separate conversations related to education, learning, academics, exam preparation, research, projects, or skill development.
• Ability to provide an exported JSON file containing the required conversation history for review.
• Strong analytical, research, logical reasoning, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to evaluate information critically and provide detailed, evidence-based explanations.
• Good attention to detail and the ability to work independently in a remote environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Pursuing or holding a bachelor's degree in Engineering, Literature, Journalism, Communications, Arts, Statistics, or a related discipline.
• Experience in business analysis, research, writing, editing, translation, journalism, or content evaluation.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and other productivity tools.
• Ability to interpret data, perform basic arithmetic, and identify trends and relationships.
• Experience using AI tools for research, information analysis, or content evaluation.
• Strong documentation skills and the ability to communicate findings in a clear, structured format.

Account and Data Submission Requirements

• Candidates must maintain a genuine Gemini App account established before applying for the project.
• The account must contain at least 18 months of conversation history and a minimum of 10 relevant educational conversations.
• Candidates must submit an exported JSON file containing the required conversation history for eligibility review.
• Candidates may remove personal information and individual chats from the exported JSON file before submission.
• Creating a new account solely to participate in this project does not meet the stated eligibility requirements.
• The submitted conversation history will be reviewed to verify eligibility before onboarding.

Selection Process

1. Interest Check Form: Submit the initial application and confirm interest in the project.
2. Google Forms Assessment: Complete the required assessment to demonstrate analytical ability, comprehension, and relevant skills.
3. Delivery Manager Review: Complete the final review of the application, assessment, and eligibility requirements.

Compensation and Engagement Terms

The role offers $30 per hour for approved project work. Candidates who submit the required JSON conversation-history file and are hired will receive an additional one-time payment of $50.

The assignment lasts 16 weeks and requires full-time availability, including at least 4 hours of daily overlap with PST. This is a contractor engagement and does not include medical benefits or paid leave.