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Formal Methods Research Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Waymo

Senior Formal Verification Engineer

Mountain View, CA · On-site +1

$204K - $259K/yr

Develop and deploy reusable formal testbenches, methodology flows, and high-coverage SVA assertion ... Informed of latest developments in formal verification research and industry practice, identify ...

Waymo

Senior Formal Verification Engineer

Mountain View, CA · On-site

$204K - $259K/yr

Develop and deploy reusable formal testbenches, methodology flows, and high-coverage SVA assertion ... Informed of latest developments in formal verification research and industry practice, identify ...

Galois, Inc.

Principal Scientist

Portland, OR · On-site

Formal Methods Experience: Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, with a track record of high-quality research (publications, patents, or open-source ...

Galois, Inc.

Principal Scientist

Arlington, VA · On-site

Formal Methods Experience: Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, with a track record of high-quality research (publications, patents, or open-source ...

Galois, Inc.

Principal Scientist

Dayton, OH · On-site

Formal Methods Experience: Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, with a track record of high-quality research (publications, patents, or open-source ...

Galois, Inc.

Principal Scientist

Portland, OR · On-site

Formal Methods Experience: Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, with a track record of high-quality research (publications, patents, or open-source ...

Galois, Inc.

Principal Scientist

Minneapolis, MN · On-site

Formal Methods Experience: Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, with a track record of high-quality research (publications, patents, or open-source ...

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Formal Methods Research information

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$64K

$96.7K

$117K

How much do formal methods research jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 12, 2026, the average yearly pay for formal methods research in the United States is $96,670.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $83,000.00 and $111,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Formal Methods Research vs Software Verification Engineer?

AspectFormal Methods ResearchSoftware Verification Engineer
Required CredentialsAdvanced degrees in computer science, formal methods, or related fieldsBachelor's or master's in computer science or software engineering
Work EnvironmentResearch labs, academia, or R&D departmentsSoftware development teams, industry settings
Industry UsageFocus on developing and advancing formal methods theories and toolsApplying verification techniques to ensure software correctness
Common Search/ComparisonYesYes

Formal Methods Research involves developing new theories and tools for formal verification, often in academic or research settings. Software Verification Engineers apply these methods in industry to verify and validate software products. While both roles focus on software correctness, Formal Methods Researchers are more theoretical, whereas Verification Engineers focus on practical application within development teams.

What are some common challenges faced by professionals in Formal Methods Research, and how can they be addressed?

Professionals in Formal Methods Research often encounter challenges such as bridging the gap between theoretical models and practical software systems, as well as communicating complex formal concepts to stakeholders who may not have a technical background. Overcoming these challenges typically involves collaborating closely with software engineers to ensure formal methods are integrated into development workflows and investing time in developing clear documentation and presentations. Staying updated on the latest tools and advancements in formal verification can also help researchers address real-world constraints and improve the applicability of their work.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Formal Methods Researcher, and why are they important?

To excel as a Formal Methods Researcher, you need a strong background in mathematics, computer science, and logic, typically supported by an advanced degree (Master’s or PhD). Familiarity with formal specification languages (such as Z, Alloy, or TLA+), theorem provers (like Coq or Isabelle), and model checking tools is essential. Analytical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication are crucial soft skills for articulating complex ideas and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams. These skills and qualifications enable rigorous analysis and verification of systems, ensuring reliability and safety in critical software and hardware applications.

What are formal methods researchers?

Formal methods researchers are professionals who develop and apply mathematical techniques to specify, design, verify, and analyze computer systems and software. Their work focuses on ensuring that systems operate correctly and reliably, often in critical domains like aerospace, automotive, and cybersecurity. They use rigorous logic, proof tools, and modeling languages to detect and prevent errors early in the development process. This field helps improve software quality and safety by providing mathematical guarantees about system behavior.
Infographic showing various Formal Methods Research job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 96% Full Time, 3% Part Time, and 1% Contract. Highlights an 89% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $96,670 per year, or $46.5 per hour.

Member of Technical Staff - US Talent Pool

Reasonable AI

San Francisco, CA

Full-time

Posted 29 days ago

Job description

Reasonable is the applied AI research company building formal verification for post-human software development. 

Correctness guarantees for software developed by humans and machines are no longer impractical or prohibitively expensive. Code generated by AI can be provably correct, rather than plausibly functional. At Reasonable, we are doing the research, training the models, and developing the products required to make this a reality. Achieving this creates a new paradigm for high accountability software development and unlocks the full potential of AI for professional engineers. 

We're a compact, talent-dense technical team, with deep domain expertise in machine learning, formal verification and mathematical models of program semantics. Join us to develop the next frontier of formal reasoning and software engineering.

Proof follows function.

The Role

As a Member of Technical Staff, you will play a key early role at the core of Reasonable's research, engineering, and product development. Your work will shape the research vision and develop new capabilities at the frontier, where novel training approaches and formal methods intersect. Ultimately, your work will be instrumental in enabling formal oversight in software development. 

Projects our team is working on include designing evals for state of the art coding models, developing novel post-training paradigms grounded in formal methods, and building the tooling to deliver correctness guarantees in production software engineering. 

We're an early-stage team tackling hard problems with varying degrees of predictability. Our roles require adaptability but, in return, we adapt to the candidate's strengths. The entry point is depth in either machine learning or formal methods, alongside a strong software engineering background. 

Requirements

We're looking for

  • Domain expertise in either machine learning or formal methods, with active interest in learning the other
  • Evidence of extremely fast learning of deeply technical subjects
  • Experience running machine learning experiments, ideally at scale
  • Experience post-training large language models
  • Strong software engineering practice: advanced git workflows, testing, containerisation, code review, etc
  • Familiarity with MLOps tools and training across multi-GPU clusters
  • An understanding of specification-aware programming (Verus, Dafny, TLA+), proof assistants and verification tools ( LEAN, Isabelle)
  • AI-natives, with experience using AI-assisted programming tools (Claude Code and similar)

Bonus Points If You

  • Actively contribute to formal verification or program synthesis projects: Verus, Lean, Dafny, or similar 
  • Have run production back-end services at scale; you've felt the pain of what testing can't prove
  • Have been accountable for distributed systems; you respect the failure modes that emerge from concurrency, consensus, and partial failure

This is an unusual profile. If that's you, get in touch. If you are close to it, we still want to hear from you! If you know someone that would be ideal, we always reward great introductions. 

Benefits

  • Compensation: Generous salary, with equity and additional benefits
  • Location: San Francisco, with flexibility for team and conference travel - we're an on-site team
  • Visa sponsorship: available for the perfect candidate
  • World-class team and environment: an opportunity to build alongside deeply experienced founders, in a well-funded company that's backed by industry leading VCs and angels including Oriol Vinyals, Zoubin Ghahramani, Jonathan Frankle and Guy Podjarny, amongst many others

Apply