Remote PhD Translational Medicine & Microbiome Research Advisor — AI Research & Domain Evaluation

ZR Talent Group has an active remote opening for a Remote PhD Translational Medicine & Microbiome Research Advisor — AI Research & Domain Evaluation ($45 - $90/hour). This flexible work-from-home role pairs experienced practitioners in computational chemistry, molecular simulations, python, gaussian with leading machine learning laboratories to author high-difficulty prompts, verify factual and technical rigor, and refine multi-step reasoning outputs.

Prior experience building machine learning systems is not required—our research partners value authentic practitioner judgment, domain rigor, and clear analytical writing.

Key Responsibilities & Deliverables

• Author rigorous, graduate-level scientific problems in microbiome/metagenomics, clinical and translational bioinformatics, and related life sciences, accompanied by step-by-step, verifiable reference solutions.
• Audit, critique, and score AI model outputs for scientific accuracy, rigor, and depth of reasoning, catching subtle errors non-specialists would miss.
• Construct comprehensive grading rubrics and gold-standard solutions anchored in primary literature and established methodology..
• Apply domain expertise across areas such as 16S and shotgun metagenomics, virome/host-microbiome analysis, biomarker discovery, clinical genomics, and omics-driven precision medicine.
• Supply detailed, transparent written explanations of your reasoning so other experts can follow and validate it.
• Maintain high calibration standards through collaborative peer review and iterative rubric refinement.

Required Qualifications & Technical Criteria

• PhD in Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Immunology, Epidemiology, or a closely related field.
• Practical laboratory or applied research background in an academic or industry lab (wetlab experience is a plus).
• Fluent written and verbal English communication (C1 or higher).

Preferred Experience & Bonus Attributes

• Postdoctoral or industry research experience in microbiome, clinical, or translational research.
• Publication record, ideally first-author papers in relevant journals.
• Microbiome tools: QIIME2, Kraken2, MetaPhlAn, HUMAnN, MAG assembly/binning, virome analysis.
• Clinical/translational: TCGA, UK Biobank, biomarker discovery, survival analysis, EHR + omics integration, oncology/immunology genomics.
• Statistics and ML for high-dimensional biological data.
• Programming: Python and/or R (required in practice), Bash, workflow tools.
• Experience reviewing, benchmarking, or writing scientific content.

Compensation, Remote Eligibility & Schedule

• Compensation Band: $45 - $90/hour
• Work Model: 100% Remote / Work From Home with flexible asynchronous scheduling
• Eligible Remote Locations: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa
• Current Openings: 50 active specialist positions
• Hiring Organization: ZR Talent Group
• Core Skills & Technologies: computational chemistry, molecular simulations, python, gaussian, gromacs, lammps, amber, orca, psi4, cheminformatics, electronic structure methods, scientific software configuration