2026 PhD Graduate - Formal Verification and Software Assurance Engineer

Description Do you have experience conducting formal verification with formal methods for system and software assurance? Are you passionate about making meaningful contributions that impact national security systems? Do you thrive in an intellectually stimulating, professionally rewarding, and engaging environment? Responsibilities Solve problems to improve software assurance using static and dynamic analysis, language safety properties, symbolic execution, abstract interpretation, model checking, and automated and interactive theorem provers to tackle the nation’s most pressing cyber security challenges. Explore techniques to support development of zero-defect software and systems. Work on research teams staffed with world-class experts to perform research and development improving the state‑of‑the‑art in software assurance theory and practice. Collaborate with engineers and scientists who are passionate about innovation and are driven to make a real difference in defending our nation. Participate in research projects that create and apply formal methods tools and techniques to real-world problems, including formal verification of algorithms, improvement of code quality, elimination of software bugs and design flaws, formal specification description, and analysis of cyber‑physical systems. Devise and develop algorithms, techniques, and new tools that implement and test your ideas for improving critical systems and for more reliable reasoning under uncertainty. Analyze data and results related to system development and demonstrate the benefits of using formal methods in system development as well as the positive effects of using analysis tools. Share knowledge by clearly articulating ideas through papers and presentations to technical staff, management and government decision makers, and participate in working groups, sponsor meetings, proposal writing, and conferences. Join an environment that promotes professional growth, work‑life balance, and technical development. Minimum Qualifications PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related field. Internship experience or a combination of graduate research and experience with formal methods, software assurance, or related areas. Understanding or experience with formal methods tools and techniques such as language safety properties, symbolic execution, abstract interpretation, model checking, automated and interactive theorem proving, programming language analysis and design, type theory, static source code analysis, and formal logic. Ability to understand code in a variety of programming languages and develop software to demonstrate new analysis capabilities. Willingness to travel locally as required. Ability to obtain an Interim Top Secret level security clearance by the start date and ultimately obtain Top Secret clearance. Eligibility requires U.S. citizenship. Preferred Qualifications Internship experience with static and dynamic analysis or formal methods. Familiarity with operational semantics, abstract interpretation, symbolic execution, and type inference. Experience developing software on Windows and Linux using languages such as Rust, OCaml, C/C++, and Java. Hands‑on experience with static analysis tools (Coverity, Klocwork), dynamic analysis tools (Valgrind, libFuzzer, Java Pathfinder), symbolic execution engines (KLEE, angr), model checkers (TLA+, SPIN), SMT solvers (CVC5, MathSAT), automated theorem provers (Z3, ACL‑2), and interactive theorem provers (Lean, Coq). Published papers and conference presentations. Knowledge of cyber‑security concepts including network and host‑based security, cryptography, trusted systems, and vulnerability/exploit discovery. Interest in improving system design to reduce vulnerabilities and improve computer security. Current DoD clearance and prior experience working with government agencies. Benefits Annual salary range: $105,000 – $245,000. Employment Opportunity Statement All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital or familial status, political opinion, personal appearance, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. APL is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals of all abilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation in any part of the hiring process, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io. #J-18808-Ljbffr Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory